Connections
by Dragoon-Yue
Summary: "If wishes were fishes than we'd all have boats." When you're the Wing Goddess you have a different set of rules. Careful what you wish for. Post Movie.
1. Wishful Thinking

**A/N:** Okay, so when I was looking through the Escaflowne fanfics here I couldn't really seem to find the kind of story that I wanted to read... So I decided to write one. It's my sincerest hope that all of you enjoy this.

* * *

Hitomi Kanzaki woke up to the sound of her alarm and immediately felt guilty. She had a wonderful boyfriend (who was actually patient enough to not pressure her into intimacy, unlike her last ex) - and she had been having a less than chaste dream about Van. She had known him for barely two months over twelve years ago and he was still the one she longed for. Maybe it was because she had never gotten the chance to say goodbye. Whatever the reason Hitomi did not want to get up at that moment; she wanted to go back to the dream.

Another stab of guilt forced her out of bed and towards the bathroom. Walking in she leaned over with her hands on the edge of the sink and tried to banish the images of the dream from her mind. It didn't work; she could still feel the phantom sensations all over her body.

Hitomi looked up at her exhausted reflextion and told it without much conviction (though she still, somehow, meant it), "Stop it - you have a boyfriend! He deserves better! A lot better..." Completely discusted with herself she added, "God, I'm such a selfish bitch."

With that she yanked open the medicine cabinet behind the mirror and pulled out her antidepressants. Five minutes later she was sitting at the two-person dining table in her kitchen having coffee and trying to forget the feeling of hay, calloused hands and a hard, warm body. The sight of maroon eyes, a mane of black hair and tan skin under her hands.

She didn't have much success.

* * *

Van woke up with the irritating buzzing of Hitomi's alarm clock in his ears. He reflected that it was an effective sound to motivate a person to stop sleeping if only to shut the stupid thing off. For one year Van had believed that Hitomi had been happy on the Mystic Moon. Turned out he had been wrong in that assumption. He had gone to sleep one night and Hitomi's mind had reached out to him in a dreamscape... There had been nothing then and nothing now that he could do for Hitomi except be there to hold her in her dreams when she got too lonely.

Last night she had needed him again. He had met her halfway, as he always does, and things had gotten... Steamy. It wasn't the first time, just like it wasn't the first time that she had cried desperately in his arms, wanting to be back on Gaea with him. It had made her feel guilty for some reason, but he never got the chance to ask her why.

At the moment Van was in a Human village North and West of Adom to get some provisions. He had been sleeping in the hayloft over the stables, the ones behind the inn, since it was currently full. Thankfully he'd only had to pay quarter price for the dubious privilege of using the space... He also got his dinner at half price, so it wasn't too bad.

He sat up, hay rustling and falling away from him. Dawn was approaching and he decided that he might as well get an early start. He pretended like he wasn't running away from the fact that, yet again, Hitomi wasn't laying beside him when he woke up.

* * *

It was around twelve thirty, while she was heading out to get her lunch during her break, that she looked up to the sky and paused. Unbidden, a thought came; _I wish I could see Van again... Without either of us having to give up the lives we've built..._

Hitomi brought her eyes back down to street level again, hating herself for wishing such a thing.

_I'm so selfish._ She thought reproachfully and went on with her day like she always did.

There wasn't anything else that she could do.

* * *

**A/N:** Pretty, pretty please review?


	2. Seperation

**A/N:** jossi-31 thank-you very much for letting me know that you're reading this! I hope you enjoy this next chapter; it's a bit longer than the last one. Chapter three is where things will start to get interesting!

* * *

_BEEP!_ Went Hitomi's answering machine.

_"Hitomi? It's Yukari. Call me when you get the chance, okay? I'm worried about you... Remember to take you meds, alright? And call me!"_

_BEEP!_

_"Hi, Hitomi, it's mamma. I know you're feeling disconnected from people again, but it doesn't help when you won't talk to anyone."_

"What's the point?" She asked the machine, as the recording of her mother sighed, "It never helps."

_"I'll call you tomorrow; we can set up a lunch date. Bye honey - I love you."_

"I know. I love you too. I'm sorry; I don't know what's wrong wi-"

_BEEP!_

_"Hey sis! You're choking yourself off again. Don't make me crash at your place for a year again. You barely survived it last time. No matter how you're feeling remember that we all love you... I don't know who he was Hitomi, but it's not worth it to pine after him for thirteen years - oh crap! I hope you're boyfriend isn't listening to this right now... I love you sis! Please remember that if he is listening to this..."_

_BEEP!_

_"Hi Sweatheart, it's Ozuru... Well, you can probably tell that by my voice by now, I mean I know voices can sound different on machines and it's totally understandable that someone might not recognize another person's voice and... And I'm babbling on again, aren't I? Sorry. I promise I'm working on it, I just don't now why can never seem to shut-up... Right. Anyway, the survey we're doing out here in the middle of nowhere is taking a bit longer than expected. It's a perfectly normal thing to happen- and I will stop right there before I start babbling again. See? I'm getting better. Anyway, we figure it's only going to take an extra week. Love you."_

_BEEP!_

_"You have no more messages waiting."_

Hitomi reached over from where she sat on the couch to the side table where the phone and the answering machine rested. Her fingers fumbled around for a moment until they found and hit the eject button for the tape. She reflected that she needed to get a newer machine. Hitomi couldn't sum up the energy to really care that much or to even finish changing the now-full tape. She was honestly surprised that there had even been enough room on it for the messages that she'd gotten.

"I should call them back." She said to herself.

Instead she slid over and onto her side and stared at the coffee table blankly, wondering for the umpteenth time why she could never feel like she truly connect with the people around her. Was there something broken inside of her? Was her brain miswired before she was born? Maybe after?

"What's wrong with me?" She wondered aloud, "Why am I so detached from everyone?"

No one answered. Instead she felt calloused fingers brush across her cheek, tucking her hair behind her ear. Her eyes went wide and she instinctively turned to see who was there. No one. A rough hand cupped her cheek and she recognized the familiar feel as Van's. Hitomi burst into tears. Was she hallucinating him now? She wished more feverishly than ever to be near him. She knew that it would hurt everyone who cared about her if she just vanished, but she was almost at the point of not caring anymore. Almost. She was just one step shy of it, but that one step was what kept her from using one of the kitchen knives on her wrists.

Trying to get herself back under control she dragged herself off of the couch and to her bedroom. She cried herself to sleep without changing out of her clothes and dreamed of Van again that night. This time, though, they talked. Hitomi told him everything and he listened, holding her against his chest where she could hear the comforting rhythm of his heartbeat. They reluctantly parted with the dawn, both of them feeling cold in the other's absence. Hitomi felt a bit better than she had the night before; she was an extra step away from that precipice now.

* * *

All the way on Gaea, in a small clearing, laying next to a dead fire Van stared at the brightening sky. Last night he had heard her calling so loudly his spirit had very nearly jumped out of his body while he was still awake. He had resisted just long enough to set up a barely acceptable camp before following her call. He had learnt a great deal last night that had left him unsure of how to feel about any of it. In all the years that Hitomi had been dreamwalking she'd had no idea that she was! Then there was the fact that she was in a romantic relationship with another man, one that she still felt alone with even when he was right beside her. At least now he knew why she had felt so guilty last time. Van just wished that she could be happier - preferably on Gaea, with him.

He quickly shoved that selfish thought away and got up, starting in on packing away his small camp. Hitomi needed him very badly, but he couldn't even be there physically for her. She needed someone who could be right their next to her when she needed to talk to someone, or to make love. Someone she could marry and have children with. Someone who could be her friend, lover, husband and anything else she needed... Someone who could be all the things that Van could not be for her all the way on Gaea. He had never hated their separation quite so much as he did then. He cursed the distance between them and wished that the gap could be closed.


	3. Google Maps

**A/N:** jossi-31 thank-you for reviewing again!

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It was the day after Hitomi's dream-conversation with Van and she found herself waking up feeling physically heavier than she should. She tried to take a deep breath, but her body wouldn't cooperate. Trying not to feel alarmed Hitomi pushed the covers off and pulled herself out of bed. Once she was up and moving about breathing became easier and her body felt less heavy, much to her relief. In fact, physically, she felt better than she had in ages. It was a little strange, but not something that Hitomi was overly worried about.

An hour later she headed out the door for work. It was the first time in weeks that she hadn't woken up thinking of Van incessantly... At least until she saw the dumbfounded elementary school child staring up at the sky and followed their gaze. When Hitomi saw what the child saw she understood and shared their reaction. There was a sky-ship flying in the distance. It was white, so most people's minds were editing the sight to make it look like a cloud. The thing was just a little too far outside of their normal experiences and people will see what they expect to see. No one on Earth would expect to see **that**. Unless they happened to have seen one before, or had a mind willing to accept the impossible.

Hitomi placed her hand on the child's shoulder and said, "Go to school; no one's going to notice that just yet."

He - it was her neighbor's son - turned to her and demanded incredulously, "How can they miss it?"

"People see what they expect to see." She answered.

He gave her a dubious look.

"Just trust me." She sighed, "Go to school before you're late and they give your dad a call."

The boy gave a start and took three steps towards his school before he paused, whirled around and startled Hitomi by catching her up in the biggest hug he could give her. For a moment she thought that he was scared, then he stepped back and turned a very serious gaze on her.

"The other night..." He started, "I heard you crying. **If you're sad then you should talk to someone**!"

His piece said he took off for school with a faint blush on his shy cheeks. Hitomi stared after his retreating form, surprised. Then she smiled. He was a good boy... And a strange mix of bold and shy. She turned her gaze up to the sky-ship and frowned.

"What are you doing here?" She murmured to herself.

* * *

Hitomi arrived just short of being late, much to the frowning disapproval of her coworkers. For once she didn't notice as she took her shoes off and traded them for her work slippers and headed straight for her cubicle. On her way to work a thought had occurred to her that she didn't quite have articulated into words, but still had her waiting impatiently for her computer to finish booting up. As soon as it was she went straight to Google Maps and froze. After a moment she zoomed out as far as she could and scrolled the map, trying to find a familiar shape. Finally she gave up and sat back. None of the landmasses looked right. They were the wrong size and shape and there was still the same proportionate amount of water between landmasses for he most part. It shouldn't be possible, but there it was.

The only explanation that she could come up with was that Earth and Gaea had somehow merged. The only - very substantial - problems with this theory were that they would be dealing with twice, or more, Earth's gravity (Hitomi wished that she knew the math for working something like that out). Then there was the fact that both worlds hadn't blown up in some kind of collision. Even so, shouldn't there have been earthquakes, super-storms, volcanic eruptions - **something**?

Apparently not.

This was, of course assuming that her theory was even correct in the first place. Was it possible? She had felt heavier when she woke up and if the atmosphere got proportionately thicker with the worlds merging... Theoretically, people might not notice at first as the thicker atmosphere gave their bodies the extra oxygen they needed to compensate for the increased gravity. Maybe? She had no idea; she wasn't an astrophysesist and she was fairly certian that they would laugh at her and tell her it was impossible. Despite that she couldn't seem to shake the idea that Earth and Gaea had somehow merged.

Hitomi groaned, flopping her head back to stare into nothing as she tried not to think of all the celestial mechanics this could and would screw up. If she hadn't seen that sky-ship earlier she would have just assumed that something was wrong with Google... But then, if she hadn't seen the sky-ship she never would have gone to Google Maps in the first place. She wondered how long it would take people to notice the changes to their world(s).

_Well, it looks like your wish came true..._ She thought, which had her abruptly sitting up straight in her chair and staring at the screen wide-eyed.

_It couldn't be... It must be a coincidence._

That was when Hitomi remembered that her boyfriend is out in the middle of nowhere surveying a sight for a possible mine. Now worried she input the longtitude and latitude Ozuru had given her before he left so that she'd know where he was working. He's considerate that way. The area came up. It was close to what Hitomi could have sworn was Adom. She zoomed in on the little village and - sure enough - there was a frozen image of the people of Adom going about their day.

If Ozuru and his team encountered them... It could (most likely would) end badly.

Hitomi raced for the nearest exit and was glad of two things. One) she doesn't have to wear heels in the office like she sees in westerner's movies, and two) that her brother had talked her into getting a car that can go off road. Halfway to the exit she kicked her slippers off so that she could run faster. She wasn't worried about keeping her job at that point.

* * *

**A/N:** jossi-31... Gap closed. Now she just needs to get to Adom.


	4. Climb

**A/N:** WhimsicalFlouish - I'm glad that you're enjoying this! You can expect daily updates. blackvelvet-smile - Always good to know that I've got a reader's interest. I think you'll like where I'm going with this.

* * *

Van coaxed his supply-laden horse up the narrow mountain path as the sun shone brightly overhead and he tried not to distract himself dangerously by worrying about Hitomi. Once he was on the other side of the mountain it would be just a couple of hour's ride through the forest and then he'd be back in Adom. Meryl - who had gotten married a few years back and moved to her husband's village - would be waiting there to finally introduce Van to her two little ones. He was looking forward to it. Hopefully, she wouldn't nag too much about getting married. Again.

Movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention and he paused long enough to take a look. What he saw were a bunch of people scurrying around on the mountain across from him (which should not have actually been there in the first place) placing small, uniform sticks in the ground that were painted on the top. Strings were being looped around them going from one to the other. A few others were setting up tripods with bright yellow boxes on top, while others seemed to be checking the soil for some reason. The people doing these strange things were writing stuff down regularly. All of them were wearing weird clothes that vaguey reminded him of what Hitomi had been wearing when she had been on Gaea.

He had no idea what these people were doing, or why, but his first instinct was to investigate and assess whether they were friendly or not. His second instinct was to just find out what they were doing out of sheer curiosity. Throughout the Dragon Clan's long history there had never once been a single person born into it who did not have an inquisitive mind... The insane ones notwithstanding. Van was not an exception to this rule, but he curtailed his curiosity with caution. He had no idea who these people were, or what there intent was.

He started leading his horse forward again; he'd have to talk to Rhum and put his visit with Meryl temporarily on hold.

* * *

Van arrived back at Adom to the usual excitement from the children and the cheerful greetings of the adults. While he and the other adults sorted out which supplies went where (it was mostly medicinal stuff) he asked to speak to Rhum. Having known Van since he was a child the leader of the village could read Van well enough to realize that it was important. The other adults caught it as well and took over the rest of the sorting.

Rhum came forward and the two walked away from the others until they were out of earshot and then kept going, heading towards the mountain Van had seen the strange people on. Meryl watched them with concern, but stayed behind. She'd catch up with Van when he got back; she was staying for the week anyway.

"We have some interesting visitors on one of the nearby peaks." Van told Rhum, "But I have no idea where they're from."

"I see... Are you concerned?"

"Possibly. I'm just cautious at this point."

"Mm... So then, I assume that you're taking me to see them." He asked, a little confused by the direction they were taking.

"Yes. Based on where I saw them from I can get us to a good vantage point to observe them."

"Vantage point? Van there is nothing but forest this way."

"You'll understand." Van assured him, "We'll need a pair of horses."

Rhum whistled a signal and one of the adolescents ran off to get two horses. He ended up having to make Van wait, something he hadn't had to do since the other man was a teen. He frowned in worry.

* * *

Two hours later and Rhum did understand, particularily why Van had been impatient. There was now a mountain across from Bull Peak, where before there had been uninterrupted forest. The two of them watched the Humans below as they went about there odd activities. Van always took one of the paths on Bull Peak simply because he enjoyed the climb, so how he could have seen these people from so far away Rhum wasn't entirely sure. He knew that as Van got older he would gain more powers and he'd heard of Draconians who could see things from impossible distances, so perhaps that was how... But still - a kilometer?

They continued to observe the people, trying to figure out what they were doing, but with no such luck; they were speaking a very strange language. One of the Humans began to approach their location and they moved out of sight while staying close enough to observe them. Perhaps this one they could learn a bit from.

* * *

Ozuru looked around him for what seemed to be the hundredth in the last hour. He had the unshakeable feeling that he was being watched by someone, but every time he checked there was no one staring in his direction. It was really starting to freak him out. He couldn't think of any reason why someone would want to watch him... He just wasn't that interesting. He was on the better side of average-looking, a bit tall, but not too much so and only a little thick-set muscle wise.

In essence, he didn't stand out at all. He wasn't even going prematurely bald! On top of that he had been on his own for that entire hour as he got as close to an overhead view as he could in order to relay what he saw and help coordinate everyone below.

Finally, Ozuru looked up on the off-chance that someone - or maybe an animal - was watching him from a vantage point higher up. His jaw dropped. There was a short, dark man (about thirty-ish) crouched on a ledge watching him in strange, vaguely Korean - very vaguely - clothes. It was the creature next to him that had Ozuru so shocked and riveted. It was wearing clothes similar to the man's and looked like a cross between either a Human and a bear of some kind, or a brown-furred canine and a Human. Regardless, he had no idea what to make of it.

In an effort to get a better view of this creature he backed up a bit, forgetting about the steep incline he was standing near. The man said something and if Ozuru hadn't been so transfixed with the one covered in brown he would have looked over and seen the man's worried expression, which would have reminded him of the incline. It would have saved him the tumble he took when he backed up another half stepped.

At some point during his fall his head hit a rock and everything went black. None of his coworkers noticed the incident; they were too far away.

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**A/N:** So, I'm trying to make Ozuru a decent, possibly likeable, guy. Did I succeed?


	5. Village

**A/N:** Enjoy!

* * *

Ozuru came to with a pounding head and the smell of incence in his nose. It reminded him of the day after his divorce went through a few years back. He had had woken up in a Buddhist temple, much to his confusion. The monks had been very understanding and had helped him through the next few weeks of his life. He didn't know where he would have been by now if it hadn't been for them. What he did know was that he would not have been where he was right at that moment.

Slowly, he tried looking around only to hiss in pain, one hand flying up to his head. A calloused hand on his shoulder and some words he didn't understand brought Ozuru's attention around to see the short, dark man he had spotted earlier. His hair looked like an untamed, black mane and it was the first thing that Ozuru noticed about him. The second thing was his maroon eyes that - thankfully - looked both friendly and kind. Overall, he looked mostly mongoloid, but what ethnicity was indicernable. It was probably because there was the feeling of caucasiod having been in his ancestry no more than a grandparent ago.

"Who are you and where am I?" He asked the unusual man, trying not to sound rude or demanding.

The man just shook his head and said something in that other language again. Ozuru sighed.

"Great... We can't understand each other... I wonder how long I've been out for..."

* * *

Hitomi paid the owner of the bed and breakfast that she had spent the night in. After arriving in the nearest town to Adom she'd had to find a place to sleep because it was getting dark out. Thankfully there was a camping area in the opposite direction of where Ozuru was working, but that was almost exactly the same distance from Adom. She was headed there since it had a place for her to park her car.

Exiting the building she threw her stuff into the back seat and climbed in. It was mostly just a change of clothes and a few other things she had stuffed into the backpack in a hurry after she had gotten changed into some more practical clothes. The engine growled to life and she pulled out of the parking space.

* * *

Hitomi hiked up the wide path (sans backpack) remembering when she had made a similar trek years ago with a half dead Van on her back. Motivation and determination had given her the physical strength necessary to carey him for several hours. Thankfully they had been found. Apparently the people of Adom could smell the blood and had come running to help. It had taken them quite a while to wash all the blood out of her clothes, especially her shirt.

Adom came into view and she snapped out of her memories. Standing at the entrance to the village Rhum stood waiting with a notably curvier and more voluptious Meryl. For the first time in a very long while a genuine smile spread across Hitomi's face. Excitement finally bubbled over and Meryl came running forward yelling her name. Hitomi met her halfway.

"We've missed you so much! Lord Van will be so happy to see you again!" Meryl exclaimed, then started pulling her along, "C'mon! Oh!" She added, looking over her shoulder without breaking stride, "I have a son and daughter I need to introduce you to later. But first; Lord Van!"

* * *

Minutes later - filled with cheerful greetings from the people of Adom that Hitomi did her best to return while being hauled along - and Hitomi was ducking through a curtain she held aside with one hand. Stepping into a room in Van's house she spotted him. He was older, like her, and somehow even more handsome than he had been the last time she had laid eyes on him.

He looked up from mending a shirt. Their eyes met and Hitomi forgot everything.

"Hitomi..." He said, smiling and standing, instinctively moving towards her.

She almost threw her arms around him in profound relief and unmitigated joy, but then she heard Ozuru's voice calling her name from behind. Hitomi turned around, surprised at his presence.

"Ozuru?" She asked, wondering at his presence.

They ended up sitting down as he explained what had happened and the fact that he can't understand a word that anyone in the village has been saying. Hitomi introduced them and had to explain to Van what a boyfriend is, since the term apparently doesn't translate. Ozuru was shocked that she could understand - and speak! - their language. She had no explanation except for what Van said; "You're the Wing Goddess."

That was not a conversation she wanted to have with Ozuru while he was concussed badly enough to need bandages wrapped around his head.

Somewhere along the way Hitomi had to explain to her clueless boyfriend that the clothes the people of Adom were wearing were not strange; they were identical to some traditional Korean clothes. Truthfully, she only knew because she had spent a summer in Korea five years ago. It was a business trip that involved her boss hitting on her. She quit before they had even gotten back.

"Huh... Well, I've never been good with that kind of thing." Ozuru commented, now feeling a little embarrassed, "So, that said; why wont they let me leave?"

Hitomi put the question to Van.

"Two reasons. Well... The healers want to keep an eye him for now and he and his people are... A little close to Adom. We have no idea what they're doing. Not to mention they're on a mountain that wasn't there a week ago."

Hitomi translated, then turned to Van and explained that Earth and Gaea **may** have merged somehow. She even told him about the change in the size and shape of the continents. He was understandably slack-jawed.

She was not looking forward to explaining this to Ozuru.

* * *

**A/N:** Please review! Hope you enjoyed!


	6. Shadow Tag

**A/N:** jossi-31 yup, it's destiny. But destiny is partly based on what choices one makes, so where their destiny goes from here is up to them... Well, actually, me. I am the author after all. Well, enjoy this installment!

* * *

Later that day, while Ozuru was resting, Meryl came bounding into Van's house and pronounced that it was time for the two of them to meet her son and daughter. They followed her out to see two little cat-children playing with the other children of Adom. They were adorable. Meryl agreed lovingly, gushing a little. Van and Hitomi both hoped that she didn't end up spoiling them. Watching the playing children was a man with red fur and black stripes. He was very handsome.

Poking Meryl on the arm as Van watched the children with a smile Hitomi asked, "Hey Meryl... That guy over there, the red one watching the children... Is he...?"

"Hmm...?Oh yes, he's their father... And my hubby." Meryl answered, then leaned in conspiratorily and added, "Gorgeous, isn't he?" Then she suddenly got irate, "I practically have to beat people off of him - and they're not always women!"

"Really?" Van asked, looking over in surprise.

"Yes!" Meryl answered exasperatedly, "Do have any idea how awkward that is?"

"Very, I imagine." Hitomi commented.

Meryl sighed dramatically, then said dreamily, "But he's worth it!" Turning a mischievous look on Hitomi she added, "Not that you're going to notice anyone but Lord Van!" Hitomi's face turned bright red, "Speaking of which, when are you two hooking up?"

Hitomi was so flustered and startled that it took several attempts to blurt out that she was in a relationship with Ozuru. Then she had to explain who Ozuru is. Meryl was outraged, much to Hitomi's shock.

"Meryl, she doesn't know." Van interrupted firmly.

"How could she not?" The pink-haired, orange-furred woman demanded.

Hitomi was now understandably confused as to what the two were talking about.

Van turned his maroon eyes on his long-time friend and asked, "Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black?"

That stopped Meryl. After a moment she spoke up again.

"Well, she has a right to know if you already do..."

Van tensed. Meryl sighed, then turned to Hitomi and told the baffled woman, "Hitomi you and Lord Van are pairbonded."

"...We're what? What's a pair-bond?"

Meryl, Van and every resident of Adom stared at Hitomi, dumbfounded. She flushed, confused by the reaction. It was Meryl's husband who saved her by speaking up.

"Only Beast-people and Draconians have Pairbonds that are strong enough to be noticeable. If she was raised by Humans without magic than she wouldn't know anything about Pairbonds."

Meryl took a deep breath and launched into an explanation. In summary it was that Pairbonds are a meeting of two spirits with high resonance resulting in an intense attraction to one another. Pairbonds have a one-in-three chance of happening. Among that one third one in five of them is a breeding bond. For the remaining four fifths it's true love. It's up to the pair to figure out which. Meryl had thought that Hitomi had decided that it was true love, hence her earlier question.

After that Meryl called her two children over to meet Hitomi (who was trying vainly not to blush) and Van. All the while Hitomi was trying to process everything that she had been told. It wasn't that she found it to be a difficult concept to grasp... It was the implications of what Meryl had just told her. One question - one particular implication - nagged at the back of her mind, as a wordless worry she didn't want to articulate; was her draw to Van simply about breeding? That fear was compounded when, while playing with the children, Hitomi had the sudden thought that she wanted to have babies of her own and that Van is very good with children. She had never had such a thought before about any other man. Hitomi did her best to ignore those thoughts; she's with Ozuru and he deserves better than to be dropped for a man that - when she stopped and thought about it - she barely knew. It didn't matter that it felt like she had known him for years because she hadn't.

_Ozuru is a good man. The grass isn't greener on the other side (unless it's better watered). Stop that!_ She snapped at herself, then added in disgust,_ Have a little loyalty._

Hitomi found herself wishing that she weren't with Ozuru and that sent a stab of guilt through her that she didn't let outwardly show. Van's thoughts were traveling along similar tracks as he watched Hitomi cheerfully teaching the children how to play Shadow Tag. He found it very easy to imagine her teaching their children the same game. He wondered if she would choose him or Ozuru and if she chose the other man, would he be able to accept that choice? He didn't know and that bothered him.

* * *

**A/N:** Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! Please review!


	7. Doctor

**A/N:**

jossi-31 - at least I gave Hitomi a legitimate reason to have doubts (or at least worries). Glad that you liked the Pairbonding idea. It seemed plausible idea given their psychic abilities. Hmm... I guess that would mean the Beastmen have some psychic abilities as well if they Paribond...

* * *

Three days after Earth and Gaea had merged and the newly-formed world was in a panic. It should have taken much longer for everyone to notice and accept, but when the two planets had merged the power that had gone into making that happen had rippled out thereafter and had the effect of essentially smacking everyone across the face and waking them up.

People weren't going through their days in a sleepy gray haze anymore.

Those in Adom, however, were blissfully unaware of the chaos going on almost everywhere else... At least until Meryl's brother-in-law (Ray) came running into town from the surrounding forest begging to talk to Lord Van. There was a town full of Human's in strange clothes readying to attack and no one in the village knows how to fight. If Van didn't help them then they would be, at best, run out into the forest and slaughtered at worst. Van could think of a few things worse than death that he had seen, but kept that to himself.

This situation was exactly what Hitomi had been worried would happen.

Van agreed to help the neighboring village. Hitomi went with him to act as a translator; they would try to resolve things without bloodshed and hopefully calm the townspeople down.

* * *

Things didn't go quite as planned. It started out well; Hitomi translated both ways and people started to calm down, then one of the attacking Humans shot Hitomi. The loud bang deafened everyone present, Human, or otherwise. Van stared in shock as the bullet exploded out of Hitomi in a spray of blood. Shock turned to horror, turned to fury.

Van zeroed in on the attacker and, using his powers, picked him up and nearly ripped him apart. A voice shouting in Draconian ("Don't! You'll provoke them into attacking again!") saved the man's life. Van sent a blast of power into his ribs, breaking three of them, and then dropped him. The attacker picked himself up off the ground and started yelling and screaming hysterically at the other Humans. A man came flying almost silently out of the treeline and slammed his fist so hard into the hystarical man's jaw that the cracking sound of bone giving way could be heard. The hysterical man crumpled to the ground, unconscious, his jaw broken and dislocated and his cheekbone fractured.

Without breaking stride, or losing momentum, the newcomer spun ninety degrees and ran straight for Hitomi, calling in Draconian that he's a doctor. Van let him near Hitomi. Anyone else - Human or Beastman - who tried to get near got a firm shove of Van's power to move them away from her. No one got within ten feet of her and he kept his eyes on all of the Humans. The doctor appreciated this; it kept them out of the way.

It took awhile for him to calm down, but that was probably because it took awhile for the Humans to finally go back to their own town. By then the man who had shot Hitomi had woken up and was made to walk since no one wanted to go near him. When someone from the town came with a strange bag Van tensed again. They didn't look like any of the ones Van had seen earlier. The person set the bag down and wordlessly left.

"I need that bag." The doctor said.

One of the Beastpeople ran over and grabbed it for him. Once he had it he pulled out things Van would expect a Draconian doctor to use and started using the items to treating Hitomi. He'd had - Van realized - a smaller version of the bag with him that he'd been using things (all unfamiliar to Van) from to treat her. It went a long way to put Van at ease to see him using Draconian medicine and techniques to help her. His people had been known for their magic, but medicine was their strongsuit.

Time ticked by as Van waited with bated breath and watched for further threats. Finally, the doctor - who had introduced himself as Taro at some point, though Van couldn't remember when - leaned back on his heels and pronounced her ready to be moved.

"Good." Van answered, not realizing that Hitomi **should** have required surgery (at least if it had been anything but Draconian medicine being used), but didn't, "I'm taking her back to Adom."

"How far away is it?"

Van told him the distance.

"Is there a way to transport her without her getting jarred?"

"Yes, there's a path about ten feet into the treeline."

After Meryl moved from Adom Van and a few others had cleared a path between the two villages that's been kept clear and even. It was so that she could visit and was now also used for trade.

"I'll get a good cart." Ray (Meryl's brother-in-law) said before taking off to get it.

"Alright," Taro said, "I've got to head back to my town, but I'm coming back tomorrow to check on her, so I'm going to need someone to take me to Adom then."

Nobody had a problem with this after the way he punched out the shooter. Van forgot to tell him that he'd have another patient waiting for him.

* * *

**A/N:** ...I'm rather abusing the characters, aren't I?


	8. First Impressions

**A/N:** Well, guess no one wanted to review the last chapter... Anyway, sorry for the late update. Enjoy!

* * *

Taro stood in the kitchen with his home phone held to his ear while the phone on the other end of the line kept ringing. He had recognized Hitomi from his collage years when they had been dating. The woman attracted the descendants of Atlantis like a loadstone attracts iron fillings. He had - as gently as he could - broken up with her when he had realized that she has a Pairbond that she was desperately missing. How was he supposed to know the guy was on another world?

Someone picked up on the other end of the line.

_"Hello, Kanzaki residence, Mamoru speaking."_

"Hitomi got shot." Taro immediately said, knowing that Mamoru - her younger brother - would just as immediately hang up if he announced who he was first.

There was good reason for the animosity; Taro had been engaged to Hitomi at the time of his break-up with her.

_"...What?"_

"It's complicated. Would you like to know where she is?"

_"Yes."_

Taro gave him the address.

* * *

Taro was making his check-up with Hitomi early mostly to avoid her family and her best friend. They had arrived late lastnight and he had explained what had happened. They had not been happy. Thankfully, Hitomi's ever-reasonable grandmother had calmed down Mr. Kanzaki and Mamoru before they went out killed - literally - the shooter. It helped that Taro had sent him to the city for treatment.

After they were settled down he explained that he would need to let the Beastpeople know about them first and that he needed to give Hitomi a check up. It was, of course, just an excuse; they were still angry at him for breaking up with her **after** proposing. He didn't blame them one bit. He just wished that he could have been her Pairbond.

_Well, you're not!_ He snapped at himself, _So make certain to stay out of their way if you want her to be happy._

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, locking away his feeling for her with the exhalation. Her happiness was what was important. The Beastman village came into view through the trees and he deliberately made a little noise to let them know he was there; it's basic manners.

He stepped out of the treeline and was escorted by Ray to Adom. It was only a half hour after that to get to the other village. Along the way he told Ray about her family wanting to see her and that they may not react well to him or his people. Ray proved to have no problem with this and offered to be the escort again.

When they reached Adom Van was waiting for him in a doorway. A few minutes later and he was checking on Hitomi's wound. She was still sleeping when he started, but woke up when he poked gently at the injury. She stirred in Van's arms with a moan and mumbled his name. He murmured to her what they were doing and she came fully awake with a start, suddenly clinging to Van fearfully. This reaction bothered both men; she wasn't one to cringe.

Taro inwardly steeled himself (it's not his place to be the comforting shoulder right now) and said, "I need you to let me finish checking the injury."

Startled green eyes turned to regard him.

"Taro?" She finally asked.

Van looked at him sharply.

"Yes. Now are you going to let me check your shoulder, or not?"

She nodded and shifted away from Van, though she still kept a grip on his shirt. Taro got the impression that she wasn't actually aware that she was still holding onto him, but said nothing. It told him that Lord Van was her Pairbond; when distressed Pairbonds will instinctively seek and draw strength and comfort from each other.

Taro envied them, but quashed the feeling immediately.

When he was done treating her she asked him to take a look at her boyfriend Ozuru. Alarm bells went off in his head. She was Pairbonded to one man and dating another? That was not good.

_Good thing it's Van and not Dune, or we would have had a homicide to cover up._

He took a look at Ozuru and got the man fixed up in about ten minutes.

* * *

The tension in the air as they hiked to the village was thick. Taro had finished treating Hitomi and then gone back to get her family. The tension was mostly Mamoru's fault because he kept glaring murder at the back of Taro's head. The others had already tried to get him to knock it off, but to no effect.

Not for the first time Taro wondered if Mamoru had a sister complex. Then again, she had disappeared for six months during highschool so that may be why he's so protective... Still, it was a little over the top considering he had broken up with Hitomi going on ten years ago now. He was extremely (and guiltily) relieved when they reached the village and Mamoru was to busy being shocked at the sight of it's inhabitants. Mr and Mrs Kanzaki, along with Mr Kanzaki senior, were doing a better job of not gawking, but their shock was still undeniable and very evident on their faces. Hitomi's grandmother was the only one reacting like this was all normal. The villagers took the stares with good grace and Ray escorted them to Adom.

When they arrived the Kanzaki's took it all in with less rude reactions, though all of them (excepting Hitomi's grandmother again) were very uneasy. Meryl's husband came over and introduced himself as Tyrone Azane - Taro was translating - and took them over to Van's (whom, they noted, he called 'Lord Van') house. It looked no different from anyone else's. Tyrone announced them and two little cat-children came running out to greet the man enthusiastically. A cat-woman followed them, kissed Tyrone and had Taro and the Kanzaki's follow her inside. Tyrone took the children to go play.

* * *

**A/N:** Please, please review!


	9. BFFs

**A/N:** So, another late update. My apologies; I had stuff I needed to get done today, but hey! This one's a bit longer than normal, so maybe that will make up for it?

jossi-31 - Ah, well, isn't that the way with life?

* * *

When Taro and the family walked into the house they found Hitomi, Ozuru and Van sitting on square cushions around a low table while they drank tea. Hitomi and Ozuru were both sitting seiza-style (legs folded under them and feet under their bottoms) while Van was sitting cross-legged. All three of them looked up as Meryl lead the Kanzaki's and Taro in. Hitomi made to get up and greet her family with hugs, but Van's hand on her shoulder and few words from him made her stop.

"He's right," Taro told her, "You're recovering; they can come to you. Sit. Rest."

Her family all came over and carefully gave her hugs and asked how she was feeling. Hitomi's grandmother was the only one who did not ask why she wasn't in a hospital. To the rest of them she had to explain how quickly she was healing. Once she had her grandmother turned to Taro and thanked him.

"I hadn't realized," The elderly woman added, "That you still had any of your equipment with you."

"Just the basics," He replied, "But it was enough to treat a gunshot wound... By the way... Why do people keep calling him," Taro discreetly indicated Van, "'Lord'?"

He was asking her because he already suspected and if he was right than she would have the answer.

"Hmm...? Oh, that's right... You were in another country helping them deal with a plague for quite a number of years, weren't you? Well, Lord Van," She politely inclined her head to said man, who was now looking at her curiously, "Is the Dragon Clan king."

That got shocked responses from the others (Hitomi notwithstanding) as Ozuru felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. Van asked her what they were talking about. She translated. He leaned around the others to get a better look at Hitomi's grandmother. It took a moment for him to recognize her and when he did it was because of a scar on her cheek and the necklace she was wearing.

"You're the oracle that said I would be king." He stated to her in amazement.

"And you look just like your mother." She replied in Draconian.

"Do I?"

"Mhm." She answered with a nod.

He digested that, then realization struck Van like a thunderbolt and he suddenly couldn't stop himself from staring at Hitomi, trying to see the Draconian blood in her. She was, in turn staring at her grandmother in astonishment.

"Does she look different to you now?" Her grandmother asked after a few moments.

Hitomi glanced over at Van to see him staring at her. Finally, he smiled and answered.

"...No. She still looks like Hitomi."

"Um, excuse me..." Ozuru finally interrupted, "But could someone please tell me what the heck is going on here?"

Everybody suddenly remembered his presence. It was Mamoru who told him about the change to the world. Hitomi's boyfriend was understandably skeptical.

* * *

Yukari and Amano got home and felt profoundly relieved to be out of the chaos. The world governments were trying to calm people down, but the world seemed to be in a complete panic. The couple feared that it would soon turn to outright riots in the streets. Thankfully, someone had been thinking far enough ahead to have he military in the streets almost immediately. That alone had prevented things from exploding thus far.

Setting her purse down Yukari went of to the answering machine and pressed the play button.

_BEEP!_

_"Hi, Yukari? Amano? One of you guys. It's Mamoru... I'm not going to beat around the bush; Hitomi got shot."_

Amano was suddenly at Yukari's side, listening as Mamoru told them everything that he knew about the situation, including where he'd been told Hitomi is. They wasted no time in packing a few necessities and getting back out the door, heading straight to the location Mamoru had given them. Amano was calmer, so he drove until it got to late and Yukari had to take over for the night. They didn't sleep until they reached the town and had a room at the local inn.

* * *

The next day Ozuru got up early and headed straight to Adom. He checked up on Hitomi and Ozuru, watched as Lord Van tried to respect the two's relationship, even as he spent as much time with Hitomi as he could. His presence, Tora noticed, did more for her recovery than the treatments. Ozuru seemed to be aware of this.

When the doctor returned to town he found Yukari and Amano desperately asking around about Hitomi. Two hours later and Ray was taking them to Adom. The couple did a better job of not gawking than Hitomi's family had managed. He took them to Van's home and reminded Mamoru that he had left a message for the two, then forgot to inform anyone. He got some cuffs for that, including from a very annoyed Yukari, who then grabbed him by the front of his shirt and proceeded to tell him just how worried they were and that no one in the town had any idea who Hitomi was. If Taro hadn't seen them...

"Yu-Yukari!" Hitomi said, flustered by her friend's unusual behavior.

Said friend dropped Mamoru and ran over, throwing her arms around her and proceeded to start bawling.

"I was... So... Worried!" She managed to get out.

Hitomi wondered what the heck was up with her friend; this was so far out of the norm she didn't know what to think.

"Sorry," Amano finally said when it became apparent that Yukari wasn't going let go anytime soon, "She's been like this for the last week or so... I'm not sure why."

"I-it's okay..." Hitomi stuttered out, patting her friend's back in an effort to comfort her.

That was when a thought struck her.

_She's pregnant._

"Hitomi?" Van asked, noticing the shift in her demeanor.

"Ah! It's nothing!"

Rhum came over then, while Yukari was still bawling on Hitomi's shoulder, and said to Van, "It might be a good idea to have Taro take a look at her; she smells pregnant."

_I was right?_ Hitomi thought in amazement.

"Oh..." Van answered, "I'll let him know."

Hitomi hesitated, but then told Yukari what Rhum had said. Her friend pulled back to stare at her in surprise, then she asked who Rhum was. Hitomi pointed him out. Yukari went straight up to him and asked, "You can tell if I'm pregnant by the way I smell?"

Hitomi translated the question and he answered in the affirmative.

Yukari's face lit up like a thousand watts were suddenly underneath her skin. With a delighted squeal she spun to Amano, dashed over and wrapped him in the biggest hug she could manage, exclaiming happily that they were going to be parents. Amano's shock quickly melted into delight and he quipped at her, "Well, that's assuming I survive your mood swings..."

Yukari tightened her grip around his ribs until his breathing was painfully restricted.

"**What was that**?" She demanded, her cheerful expression not changing as a decided edge came into her voice.

"Nothing dear..." He said, his voice extremely strained.

She loosened her grip.

Ozuru - meanwhile - was, as is his habit, quiet throughout and simply observed everyone with a curious sense of fascination, confusion and embarrassment. In short, he was shy. This made it hard for him to interact with others; the only reason that he still had his job was because he's that good at it. So he sat in the background and watched, knowing that he would soon loose Hitomi if he couldn't pull out of himself. He loved her, wanted to have a family with her and to make her happy. His greatest fear was that he would never get the chance.

* * *

**A/N:** Anybody besides me starting to feel sorry for Ozuru? Anyway, pretty please review!


	10. Anecdotes

**A/N:** Well, you know this was actually supposed be done at ten chapters. We've still got a ways to go.

Jossi-31 - I have every intention of doing so! And I'm very glad that you're enjoying this so much.

* * *

It had only been two days since Amano and Yukari had shown up and Van and Ozuru found themselves competing for Hitomi's attention. Neither was being immature about it, but that didn't mean it was a friendly competition either. For Ozuru's part he's her adoring boyfriend and very understandably does not appreciate another man trying to take her away. In Van's case he's her Pairbond; it's not a pull that can be ignored. It's also a bond that is supposed to be treated as sacred. Ozuru didn't know any better and Van is an inherently nice person, so he let it slide. Any other man of the Dragon Clan would have (at best attacked) attacked him. They were called the **Dragon** Clan for a reason - and it wasn't arrogance or ego.

Because Hitomi's family had to leave soon (that afternoon), due to work, neither man expected things to get any less frosty between them. If anything they were worried that things might escalate, so when Hitomi's grandmother announced that she would be staying with Hitomi both men were relieved... Much to the old woman's amusement. With Rhum's permission Yukari and Amano were allowed to stay as well; they were worried about Hitomi and things were teetering on the edge of violence back in the city. With Yukari pregnant no one wanted the couple risking going back. As things stood the Kanzaki's were reluctant to return for the same reason, but they did anyway because they had responsibilities that they couldn't just ignore (however much they wanted to). Rhum gave them an open invitation to return anytime they wished. They intended to visit Hitomi whenever they could manage it, but were expecting there to be delays.

Hitomi watched them leave, worried about their safety. Hitomi's grandmother stood beside her watching as well as they left, worried that her husband - who was going with them out of xenophobia - was not going to be there when she returned home. Both of them sighed at the same time and shared a brief, amused smile at that before returned to watching their loved-ones' retreating forms.

Van wanted to wrap an arm around Hitomi's shoulders, but Ozuru had made certain to be the one standing next to her. When Ozuru shyly put his arm around her waist Van quashed the mental image of strangling the man. He reminded himself that all the Humans he had ever met who new about it saw Pairbonding as... Primitive, a leftover from earlier times when they needed it for survival. None of them seemed to realize that it was, in fact, the exact opposite. They less developed the race the weaker anything like a Pairbond will be, if only so that they'll continue to breed rather than wasting away after loosing their partner. The more developed a race is the stronger it will be simply because more developed races live longer and the longer one lives the more they need that devoted companionship. Loneliness can twist a person up into pieces within a Human lifespan, let alone what it could do to someone from a longer lived race.

Folken was a good example of this.

After Hitomi had left Van had gotten the chance more than once to think back on why his brother had gone mad over the ascension to the Dragon Clan throne. It was a little over three years ago that he finally realized his brother's behavior exactly fit what could roughly be translated as Desolation Madness. It happened when a man from the Dragon Clan was without companionship for too long. It was called that because the one experiencing it felt desolated inside. The Madness twisted the sufferer until they couldn't think right anymore and became violent and constantly angry. Morals tended to go out the mediphorical window at that point. Eventually they went completely insane and self-destruct. If they're like Folken than they do this on a... Grand scale. When the women of the Dragon Clan became that lonely suicidal depression would set in instead.

* * *

The next day Ozuru was well enough that he was able to return to his work site and although he didn't want to leave Hitomi alone - he could see the beginnings of depression overtaking her again - he needed to check in with them. Rhum had specifically asked him to act as liason for his people after learning what would be entailed with the mine's presence. Ozuru couldn't say no; to many other lives were going to be effected by that mine for him to ignore for selfish reasons.

So off he went and hoped that Lord Van didn't steal his girlfriend while he was gone.

* * *

It was later that day when Hitomi found herself sitting on the porch surrounding Van's house watching Meryl and her husband - Tyrone - play with their children and trying not to wish for some of her own. She still had another three days of recovery before Taro would let her do much of anything, so she was spending most of her time... Bored. The all-to-familiar melancholy of depression was settling over her again and although she tried to fight it off, Hitomi couldn't seem to quite win. But then that was normal; this was a battle she never won without medication and even then they only gave her a little ground.

Hitomi looked up in surprise as Van seemed to suddenly appear out of nowhere and silently sat down next to her. Without her even noticing it the melancholy eased. When he turned to smile at her it melted away altogether and her subconscious started making wedding plans and designing a nursery... Which was what Meryl and Tyrone had been trying for when they decided to play with the children right where she could see them.

* * *

Ozuru returned the next day with an offer from his liberal-minded boss to meet with Rhum and discuss any concerns. Luckily, said boss is also very pro-be-environmentally-friendly. Oddly enough, that seemed to include any locals.. Whatever their reason it meant they were genuinely concerned about local rural communities and the surrounding environment.

It was why Ozuru liked working for them.

Rhum was pleased by this response and asked Hitomi if - in three days - she could act as translator for him. She readily agreed. When Ozuru relayed the response to his boss they were relieved that it was going to be in three days since there were problems at the head office that needed to be sorted out before they could proceed with any negotiations.

Until then Ozuru was spending all of his free time with Hitomi, explaining what was going on, telling her who was who and how to identify them... But also just talking about random things. Most of those random things were actually embarrassing anecdotes from his life because they made her laugh. He didn't mind making a fool of himself if it would make her feel better when she getting depressed again. It also helped that Ozuru could laugh at himself.

* * *

Van watched them as Hitomi laughed at something Ozuru was telling her. He felt... Jealous. It wasn't an emotion that he liked and, truthfully, he wished he didn't feel it. Yet he couldn't get rid of it, so he decided that he was going to find out what makes Hitomi laugh. He had a feeling that he was going to bungle it a few times before he got it right. Then he remembered that her two best friends and her grandmother were available to talk to... Well, her friends disapproved of his behavior, so, actually, they were out. Her grandmother, though, would understand.

He wondered where the old oracle had gone off to...

* * *

**A/N:** As always please, please review!


	11. Children

**A/N:** Well, here's the next chapter! Enjoy!

* * *

Van found Hitomi's grandmother sitting underneath a tree telling stories to the children. She had them completely enraptured. He smiled, remembering when he had been one of those children sitting in front of her as she wove her words into a tapestry of worlds that transported him away to a time when legends were being made. He hoped that she's be around to tell those same stories to his own children.

Van decided to wait until she was done and let the children enjoy the story she was weaving for them. During the course of her story telling the old woman noticed him and, once she was done her story, sent the children off to play and called Van over. He went over, though the children intercepted him halfway and tried to co-op him into playing with them. He turned them down and told them that he needed to talk to Hitomi's grandmother. They were disappointed, but went off to play with each other.

Hitomi's grandmother patted the ground in front of her and Van went sat down. He considered how to phrase his request before asking.

"I want to be able to make Hitomi laugh... What kind of things... Does she find funny?"

The old oracle chuckled and told him, "That's a question you're going to have to find out the answer to on your own. Now what's your other question?"

Van reflected that he really shouldn't be a surprised as he was.

"...How did you end up on the Mystic Moon?"

She smiled and nodded in approval.

"That was Sora's doing. She saw what was going to happen and sent a third of us away."

"A **third**?" He asked in astonishment.

Another nod and she continued.

"We landed in groups at different points in time. We married - sometimes to Humans - had children, who had children. Some of us keep track of how many of the Dragon Clan there is from year to year. At last census we were bordering on three-hundred-thousand."

"Th-that many?"

His people had never been numerous; at the time when Folken had destroyed the Clan there had been less than ten-thousand of them. Most of their country had been made up of Beastmen communities (Adom, for example). Now there were nearly four-hundred-thousand of his Clan. It was mentally staggering. At least now he knew why no one had been able to stop his brother. But how did their numbers jump so high? How much Human blood was mixed in now? How much of their magic had survived.

"Don't worry," The oracle said, sensing the course of his thoughts, "As little as one-sixteenth is all that's needed. It's had the benefit of making up more fertile, if shorter lived."

"...How much shorter?" He asked, worried; Hitomi was only one quarter, so how long would he get to have with her?

"Hitomi will to be two hundred."

Van felt like he was going to be sick even as the bottom of his stomach fell out.

"Only... Only..."

"Yes. However, it has been found that Pairbonding will extend a shorter-lived partner's life if the one that's going to live longer is at least half Dragon Clan. This can be achieved by sharing your life force with your partner. Your blood is undiluted, so you should be able to even bind her life to yours indefinitely."

Van gave a start at that, then asked, "How will it affect her aging?"

"She will age at the same rate as you. If she had been past her prime she would have returned to it, even if you were past yours."

She shrugged and said, "It's what happens."

"Oh."

Well, that was surprising.

* * *

Hitomi stroked Yukari's hair as her friend moaned in misery. The 'Morning Sickness' had decided to start about ten minutes ago and it was the middle of the afternoon.

"Why do they call it morning sickness?" Yukari moaned.

"I have no idea..." Hitomi sighed.

Yukari moaned again.

"Yukari?" Her worried husband called.

Since they were going to be staying in Adom until further notice Amano had decided to help out where he could and was now simultaneously learning from and helping the carpenter.

"Just morning sickness." Hitomi told him.

"Says the woman who's never been pregnant..." Yukari retorted

"Says the woman who's on her first pregnancy." Hitomi shot back, sounding a little annoyed.

They both started laughing. Amano wondered why it was so funny.

* * *

Ozuru wished that he wasn't spending quite so much time bouncing back and forth between the work site and Adom, but for the time being there wasn't anything he could do. The problem at head office had been resolved very suddenly just that morning, so now they were setting things up for when they met in person. This required Ozuru to make a lot trips between Adom and the site, the latter of which he was currently at (Rhum had needed him to deliver a message).

How Taro - who was currently checking him over - always knew where to find him was a mystery, although Ozuru suspected that it had something to do with why he could speak the same language as the Beastmen and Lord Van. Which made him wonder, yet again, why his girlfriend could understand them so easily and vice-versa without her speaking the language at all. He had tried probing a little at the subject, but she was either avoiding the subject altogether, or was oblivious to his attempts to bring it up. He'd considered being direct about it more than once, but didn't want to corner her.

_Well, at least the whole being-a-liason thing is pulling me out of myself..._ He thought ruefully, remembering his boss' comment when he had arrived on site with Rhum's message.

"I need to start learning the language." He said outloud.

"Hmm?" Taro prompted, making Ozuru jump and realize that he had spoken, not thought, that last one.

"The Beastman's language." He clarified.

"Ah. It's called Draconian. Would you like me to teach you?"

"...Yes; I would very much appreciate it."

"Alright."

Taro decided that right then was the perfect time to start and promptly started Ozuru's first lesson.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry that this chapter is so boring... Please, please review!


	12. Wings

**A/N:** So, here's the next chapter! Please tell me what you think at the end!

* * *

_On__ce, a long time ago, floating amid a vast, blue ocean was a great land where the impossible happened every day. This land was forever in bloom and none within her boarders ever wanted for anything. Because of the land's bounty the people were free to pursue whatever caught their curiosity... And they were a curios people indeed._

_One day a child was born - a very special child, though no one remembers what their name was (I know, silly, isn't it?) only that this child was a girl. She was very curious and always thinking and imagining... But she was also born unable to walk. No one knows why, but it led to the most important day of her life. It was the day after a devastating storm and her parents had been buried when part of the house collapsed on top of them. Being just a small child of four years old she didn't understand what the loud, terrifying noise was and cried, wishing for her parents to come and comfort her. They never did and she eventually fell asleep. _

_The next morning she waited for her parents to come and get her for breakfast... And waited and waited and waited. She wondered why her parents weren't coming to get her for breakfast; she was very hungry._

_Finally, at midday she threw back her covers and - for the first time in her life - got out of bed herself, making her way to the common room. This may seem like no big deal to you or I, but for her this was a monumental journey._

_What she found was a confusing and terrifying sight. Half the house had collapse under a huge, fallen tree!_

_"Mama? Papa?" She cried, frightened._

_She heard their startled voices calling from underneath the wood and plants. They couldn't believe that their little girl had managed to make it all the way from her room!_

_The husband and wife told her that they were trapped and could not get free. This scared the little girl yet again. Her parents couldn't get free? She wanted to see her mother and father!_

_"Go away!" She yelled at the tree and broken remnants of her home - and they went flying far away!_

_So far away, in fact, that it reached their nearest neighbor, who lived a very long distance from them. The neighbor was curious about where the objects had come from and went to investigate. What they found was the little girl focusing as hard as she could, lifting her injured parents up without touching them at all! The neighbor was astounded!_

_When the little girl had set her parents down beside her the neighbor asked, "How did you do that?"_

_"Do what?" She asked him._

_"Move your parents like that!"_

_"Because I wanted to."_

_"Yes, but __**how**__."_

_The child did not understand what he was trying to ask, because she had already answered._

_"What were you doing when you were moving your parents?" He finally asked, hoping that she would give him a useful answer._

_"I was thinking really hard!" She replied._

_"Thinking?" He asked in disbelief._

_"Yeah!"_

_The neighbor and the parents stared at her in astonishment; they couldn't believe what they were hearing! She had moved all that debris and then her parents by 'thinking really hard'? It was a difficult idea to grasp for her parents who were simple by nature. Their neighbor, however, understood and returned home to teach himself how to do what he had seen the little girl do._

_It took years and years for him to learn how to do it until, one day, he suddenly found that things would simply move if he willed it. By then the little girl had grown up and had a child of her own; despite her legs that would not move she had found true love with a kind man. However, she had died by then of old age. When her former neighbor came running into the village to show what he had learnt to the others no one knew who he was because he still looked young! The only one who believed him was the little girl's granddaughter._

_When he showed her she quickly showed that she could do the same. Everyone was astonished by this! All of the adults were afraid of what he and the little girl could do, but the children were fascinated and wanted to learn how to make things move like that as well. So he taught them and as each of them learnt their aging began to slow down until no one was sure how old anyone was! But none of them were very concerned about it and simply went about teaching others how to make things move with their minds. Years went by, became centuries, then millennia until everyone in the land had this power! Each generation learning it more easily than the last._

_With lives that existed for a thousand years at a time the people were able to pursue their curiosities for far longer and, one day, a descendant of the little girl - who looked just like her - found that she could not only __**move**__ things with her mind, but __**make**__ things as well. When she showed this to the others they begged her to teach them and she gladly did._

_Soon they were building grand things simply because they could. That was when a great being called Atlas was found by accident. At first they did not understand what they had encountered, for he was so massive that his shoulders held up the entire world. Eventually Atlas noticed them and said, "Ah, you are my descendants and I see that you have been creating things on the surface of this world. That is good, but do not grow arrogant, nor greedy, in your power." Then he saw the little girls' descendant and said, "I see the one who has inherited my wings."_

_And with those words glowing, white-feathered wings burst from her back. In joy and excitement she took to the sky flew for the first time. The others raced behind her on the ground begging her to tell them what it was like to soar as a bird does. In answer, because she could find no words to describe it, she called, "Come and see for yourselves!" and gave them all wings like herself._

_They all took to the sky and soared._

_These were the first of the Dragon Clan._

Van decided that was a good place to end the story since he was trying to cheer Hitomi up, not depress her with the story of his - their, he corrected - people's rise and fall as vast empire.

"Wow." She finally said.

"Did you like the story?" He asked her, a bit unsure.

"Yes, it was wonderful."

"Tell another one!" A small voice called from his right, startling him.

"Yeah!" Another little voice added.

Van looked over to find Meryl's two children sitting on the grass beside his porch, looking up at him with wide eyes. Smiling, he turned to Hitomi and asked, "Would you like to hear another one as well?"

She smiled back and answered, "Why yes, I think I would."

Van's smile widened and after a moment's thought came up with another story to tell. He spent the rest of the day doing this until all of the village's children were gathered around listening. When his voice grew too hoarse to continue Hitomi's grandmother took over for him, weaving tales until their parents came and collected them for dinner.

All throughout the day Van avoided one story in particular: The First Pairbond. It had been very tempting to tell it, but he had refrained for fear that she might interpret it wrong. Had he known of her fears he would have told that story to allay them. But he doesn't know, so he didn't tell.

* * *

**A/N:** So, did the rest of you like Van's story? I had fun righting it. Pretty please review! I haven't gotten any the last few chapters!


	13. Heartstrings

**A/N:** Well, I finally figured out a name for Hitomi's mother, now I just need to figure one out for grandma... By the way, I'm very sorry that this is so short even though I didn't update yesterday.

Jossi-31 - Will do, but you're going to have to wait a little while for it.

* * *

Mamoru was angry at his grandfather while his mother (Suzu) was simply disappointed in him. Neither of them spoke during the entire drive. The old man had decided to get a divorce and didn't even have the decency to tell his wife to her face. He had simply filed. It would be a few weeks before it went through, but he was already having his daughter (Suzu; her husband was using her surname) deliver the message while he moved out. What was worse was that he was cutting all ties with the family. Neither mother, nor son thought that the old woman was going to take it very well.

* * *

She was devastated.

Hitomi, Mamoru and Suzu comforted her as best they could while Meryl and Tyrone, Yukari and Amano kept their distance, using the excuse of teaching the latter two more of the language. Van, for his part, was out hunting and didn't yet know what was going on, though he could sense - on a subconscious level - that something was off through Hitomi.

Van returned that evening distracted and moody. He dropped his kill off with the butcher and went straight home without a word. The butcher was not surprised. Van found Hitomi sitting against one of the common room walls, legs drawn up and arms wrapped around them. Ozuru was sitting with her and when Van silently sat on her other side Ozuru glanced at him without malice. That alone prompted the Draconian king to finally ask what had happened. Hitomi remained silent, so Ozuru filled him in.

Once again silent, Van put an arm around Hitomi's shoulders and pulled her close. He ignored Ozuru's glare. Van knew that from the other man's point-of-view he was acting inappropriately, but he also knew that the opposite was, in fact, true. Ozuru was the one being inappropriate by trying to keep a Pair apart.

"I don't know what to do for her..." Hitomi said quietly.

"There's nothing you can do." Van told her gently.

Hitomi nodded while Ozuru felt useless and superfluous.

Van had intended to ask Hitomi's grandmother how the Dragon Clan was avoiding being decimated by the Desolation Madness, as had been the norm before, but it would be far to cruel to ask now. He supposed that some of the answers he wanted were just going to have to wait.

* * *

**A/N:** I'm so sorry that this is so freaking short, especially after missing an update! Again; sorry. Pretty, pretty please review!


	14. Family Time

**A/N:**

Jossi-31 - Don't worry; you'll find out!

Miniclio - Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you! Much appreciated! I'm glad that you are finding this interesting.

ktubb2198 - thank-you so much for favoriting this story! I'm glad that you're liking this story so much!

* * *

Takehiko sat in an abandoned shrine with the elders of his family, none of them happy and all of them scared. Some of them had tales, others hooves, a few had antlers or horns and a couple of them had a combination of those features. For all that, though, most of them looked fairly Human. The one other thing that they all had in common in their appearance was how astonishingly beautiful they were.

The entire group sat on the floor cross-legged out of politeness; it's hard to get up from that position quickly to attack someone. Takehik was being blatantly rude and sitting on a brand-new-looking bench against the wall across from them. They had, afterall, gone to all of the trouble of finding him just to kill his daughter.

He was actually impressed that they had managed to find him. 'Takehiko' is very a common name and he had taken his wife's surname rather than the traditional reversal of that. Not to mention those hooves and tales would have been difficult to hide for the whole trip.

"What do you want?" He asked, deciding not to drag things out and play into their power games.

"What do you think we want?" An elder female with a tale demanded.

Her name was Enfys (pronounced 'EN-vis'), which meant 'rainbow'. Incidentally, she was about as cheery and pleasant as a hurricane. She kind of went through life like one too; belliecose, destructive, powerful, unstopable and impressive... But ultimately breaks against the mountain, which was usually Takehiko. That was why he had picked the name he had when he immigrated and made himself look Japanese (he was using his real face at the moment); it was not only very common, but it also conveniently meant either 'hero prince', or 'mountain prince' depending on the kanji used. He simply spelt it phonetically, though he had been thinking of the second meaning when he had picked the name.

"Enlighten me..." He replied drolly.

He could see Enfys' wrath building. It made him smile, which, of course, riled her up even more as he had known it would.

"Enough." A deep, male voice cut in; measured, calm and carrying the weight of earned authority, it was the voice of Takehiko's father.

His father's name was simply Art, which meant 'bear'. It suited him very well in Takehiko's opinion. The man was someone worth respecting and Takehiko admired him, but what he didn't like about his father was how heartlessly ruthless he could be.

Art spoke again.

"I do not like the idea of having to kill my own grandchild, but she is too dangerously powerful and has no control over it. She is a threat to everyone."

"She would never hurt anyone." Takehiko said firmly.

"Intentionally? No, I imagine that she would not. Even so; she has caused many problems that we have had to clean up since she was born."

Takehiko frowned.

"That's right," Enfys said goadingly, "Your precious daughter is an abomination causing disast-"

A knife flying past her head, scratching her cheek and nicking her pointed ear silenced Enfys. Turning her head to see the knife now imbedded in the punky wood of the wall she caught a glimpse of a rose-hilted knife before a female voice spoke up from the shadowed doorway, calling her attention around.

"OH, whoops! Would you look at that; my hand slipped."

"Oh my, you should be more careful." A pleasant male voice replied.

"You're right..." The woman replied with false remorse, "I could have actually hit her."

Takehiko couldn't help but smile. He had run into the very foreign pair shortly after returning from Adom. They had been very lost and confused at the time so he had agreed to help them get back home... Which was easier said than done as borders were a little tricky to figure out at the moment for everyone. When Takehiko's family had asked for a meeting he had asked the two to come along.

As for how they could understand the language and vice-versa... That was Takehiko's doing; he was good at non-invasively transferring information to people.

Enfys looked to Art for permission to off the intruding Humans, but all she got was a witheringly cold stare that sent a chilly shiver down her spine. In a rare show of wisdom she backed down.

The man stepped forward to where everyone could see him clearly and said, "You're talking about a friend of mine." He turned to Art, saying directly, "You've seen me fight before; do you think that you could get through both myself and her father?"

"Don't overestimate yourself child." Einion, Enfys' husband, warned.

"You are as foolish as your wife." Art commented.

"Your Highness!" Einion exclaimed, indignant.

"He is the son of Encia." Art calmly explained, then added a warning just in case Einion decided to be dense, "Do not underestimate his skill."

Art turned his attention back to Takehiko and asked, "Will you stand in our way?"

Kanzaki Takehiko, Hitomi's father, stood summoning his axe and said, "Of course."

Allen and Millerna both drew their swords.

* * *

**A/N:** I originally wasn't going to include them, but Takehiko's family kind of strong-armed their way into this story... So, there's another plotline added in. As always; please, please review!


	15. Travel Time

**A/N:** So, here's the next chapter!

Miniclio - Yup, which would be bad since that would also cause a war that the world can't afford to have at the moment.

* * *

Millerna and Allen stared at the helicopter dubiously. That thing was supposed to get them safely to Asturia? They turned to look at Takehiko, who's arm was bandaged from the only injury he had gotten from the fight with his family. The ariel machine was too loud for words to be exchanged easily, so the pair used their expressions to convey what they thought of the helicopter. He gave them an apologetic smile, then signaled to the pilot. The engine was cut and the man came out, walking over to them. He took the headset off as he did so and removed his sunglasses and baseball cap.

"What's the matter?" He asked.

Both Allen and Millerna were struck by his resemblance to Takehiko when he was using his real face, which he did not have on at the moment.

"They've never seen a helicopter before, so they're a bit nervous." Takehiko explained.

"Ah," The pilot - Mamoru - responded, then changed the subject entirely and asked, "Dad, what happened to your arm...?"

Takehiko's brain decided that it was good time to stall out. Allen - having been told that neither of Takehiko's children knew anything about him, let alone his skill in a fight and didn't want them to know - covered for for the man. Luckily Takehiko wasn't one to place much emphasis on pride.

"Your father wanted to learn some swordplay and we had a small mishap."

"...I see. Dad, I don't think that swordplay is your forte..."

Takehiko gave him a semi-nervous laugh.

_Son, you have no idea..._ He thought to himself, _Give me an axe, or a polearm though..._

He just never could seem to quite understand sword and after three hundred years had given up trying to learn. His father had thrown his hands up in surrender long before that. Then Takehiko - who had still been using his birth name at that point in his life - had discovered polearms and, later, axes. **Those** he understood.

So far, Mamoru had proved to simply be good at fighting in general.

Mamoru thought for a moment then asked Allen and Millerna where they were from. Once they told him he explained how the helicopter worked. It still took a lot of reassurances to get them into it. They only wished that they could have said 'hi' to Hitomi, but things between the Gaean and Earth countries were getting heated up pretty badly and they needed to try and get things under control.

* * *

Yukari and Amano were discussing names for the baby and had insisted on including Hitomi and Ozuru in the conversation. All four of them were sitting in the common room of Van's home. Like Hitomi they were staying at his place. As Van listened to them, occasionally observing their behavior, his mind wandered into a daydream of him and Hitomi doing the same thing while she was carrying their child.

He gave himself a swift mental kick out of that fantasy; a woman can reject a Pairbond if she wishes and so far... She was picking Ozuru. All Van could do was to try and win her over. Most outsiders thought that this arrangement was unfair, but actually the opposite was true; in order for things to remain balanced the women have to be able to reject the man's will, since the men are the ones who establish the Pairbond due to the nature of their powers. **Who** the Pairbond could be established with was no one's choice - you either could, or could not have a Pairbond with someone.

Van prayed to whoever would listen that Hitomi wouldn't reject him in the end.

The others burst out laughing at something Ozuru had said while he watched Hitomi with loving eyes. Van decided that he needed to spend more time with Hitomi.

* * *

Art was the first to return to consciousness. He groaned painfully and checked to make certain that he had all limbs intact by moving his fingers and toes. Four limbs and an ear half fallen off; Allen Shezar was very good swordsman. At some point during the fight Art's hair had come loose and was now trying to crawl into the injury. It hurt. Taking a deep breath Art was unsurprised to find that he had broken ribs. Lifting his aching - but uninjured - sword arm he probed at his abdomen and found some very tender bruises.

He tested his other arm; it hurt like someone had beaten it with a 2x4, but it was still usable so he levered himself up into a sitting position and tested his legs. Shin bone of one leg was split down the middle length-wise and - oh, that hurt - there was the thigh of his other leg. It seemed to be broken. Well, at least he'd had the foresight to call is wife to come pick him up if he didn't return to their hotel by 9pm. There was no way that he was going to be able to make his way back without some help... And he hadn't even gotten the worst of it; Enfys and the woman that had come with Takehiko had really not seemed to get along.

The pain was starting to make him feel nauseous so he carefully laid back down a waited for it to pass. Checking his watch and finding it broken he wondered how long he had to wait for his wife to find him.

* * *

**A/N:** I almost skipped that last scene with Art, but he was persistently insistent.


	16. Questions

**A/N:** Wow, this is the shortest chapter yet... So sorry.

* * *

Van had coaxed Hitomi to go with him that morning to watch the sunrise. They were in the same spot that she had returned to Earth from thirteen years ago. Now they sat on a rock, side-by-side as the sun painted the sky in glorious colors that stole the breath from their lungs. For the first time in years Hitomi felt content, at peace and like she was precisely where she belonged.

_What about Ozuru?_ She wondered.

It didn't seem right to Hitomi to just drop such a kind man who had given her his everything since the start in favor of staying with Van. She knew that it would be cruel and that Ozuru - in the end - would be the one to suffer if she did chose Van over him. But then, wouldn't he suffer if she didn't? There was no denying that Hitomi still had feelings for Van... So which did she chose? Van? Or Ozuru? Or did she walk away from both and let them get on with their own lives? Which of the three of them got to suffer? It seemed like some kind of cruel joke.

If she chose Van then Ozuru would get badly hurt after finally working up the courage to trust another woman with his heart. If she chose Ozuru then she would break Van's heart and the Desolation Madness was far more likely to get him. If she walked away from both... She wasn't sure how either would take it. Would one, or both, of them chase after her? Or would they let her walk away and eventually each find another woman that they could love?

"Hitomi?" Van's worried voice gently cut through her thoughts, "What is it?"

Hitomi made the mistake of looking over at Van and seeing his concerned expression. Something overwhelmingly sorrowful welled up in her and poured over. Tears spilled and she wished that the situation could have been a little less confused.

"Oh, Van!" She cried, throwing herself at him and crying into his shoulder.

He wrapped his strong arms around her and held her reflexively.

"Hitomi?" He questioned, startled.

"I don't know what to do!" She sobbed, her voice slightly muffled.

His expression gentled.

"Oh, Hitomi..." He sighed, "You'll figure it out."

She kept crying, feeling like a selfish wretch. He hoped that she figured it out soon.

* * *

As Van and Hitomi walked into Adom Ozuru came out of the house, looking around. When he spotted the two of them returning the Pair saw the suspicion clearly on his face. Hitomi, not wanting him to think that another woman had blatantly cheated on him, put a smile on and ran over to Ozuru. The place where Hitomi had been walking beside him suddenly felt very empty to Van.

He watched as Hitomi told Ozuru - who no longer looked suspicious - about the sunrise. It seemed that Hitomi had made her choice. Van wished that the man would just go away... But if wishes were fishes, as the saying went, then everyone would live near large bodies of water and have boats.

_Life is what it is,_ He told himself, _So get on with yours._

* * *

**A/N:** Okay, yeah, so that's it for this chapter... Right. Like I said; so sorry. Pretty please review!


	17. Playtime

**A/N:** My OCs keep inserting themselves... Sorry. Anyway, I don't think I mentioned what Hitomi's grandmother's name is even though one lovely reviewer was kind enough to tell me. Either way, it's mentioned here and I'll be using it from time to time. I hope the names aren't getting hard to keep tack of...

Please enjoy this chapter!

* * *

Ray led an exhausted Takehiko into Adom. Hitomi's father hadn't slept since before the fight with his family; he'd been to busy covering her trail of the last eleven years. After that he'd had to get Allen and Millerna back to Asturia as soon as possible and then he had been too worried about his little girl to rest. So, there he was, exhausted and fretting that someone in his family had tracked her down, somehow got pas Van and killed her.

"Papa!"

The sound of Hitomi's voice had never sounded as sweet as it did then. She plowed into him with a big hug. She may not have been able to relate to him while he was pretending to be Human, but he had always made certain that his relationship with her was a close one. His arms went around Hitomi gratefully; she was unharmed and smiling a genuine smile. He was profoundly relieved to see her.

"Baby Girl! How have you been? Is your shoulder healing alright?"

She backed out of the hug, a smile on her face and answered.

"I'm fine and the shoulder's healing well. According to Taro-san it should be completely healed by tomorrow."

"That's wonderful!"

"What brings you all the way out here?" She asked curiously.

"What?" He asked indignantly, "A father can't come see how his little girl is doing?"

"I'm thirty." She reminded him flatly.

"Uhuh..." He cupped her cheek like he used to when she was little, "Sweety, you're lucky that you've graduated from crawling on the floor in diapers in my head."

Hitomi blushed, then heard the chuckling behind her and turned (her father's hand falling away from her face) to find Amano and Yukari behind her. She gave them a disgruntled look. That just made them laugh.

That was when a gaggle of children came suddenly running up to Takehiko all chattering at him at the same time, Hitomi's grandmother (Yui) watching in amusement. This told Hitomi, Yukari and Amano that Mr Kanzaki was very tired; for some reason he was a perfectly normal Japanese man when he was rested, but as soon as he got a bit too tired he turned into a completely different person... That seemed to be a magnet for children. As per usual the children decided that he was a delightful jungle-jim. He took it in good stride and let them drag him off in the direction of his mother-in-law.

As he was being pulled along by the smallest of the group he called over his shoulder, "Yukari, Amano - congratulations on the baby! We've still got Hitomi's baby clothes when you need them!"

* * *

It was a few hours later when finally managed to extricate himself from the swarm of little ones - the Beastpeople seemed to think watching him was very amusing - and get back to Hitomi. By then Yui had returned and confirmed that the baby was indeed a girl. Oblivious to his small lapse in pretending to be a perfectly normal Japanese man he passed on Allen and Millerna's greeting. By then blood had soaked through his bandages to stain the arm of his shirt. It was only because the children had seen the injury that he had been able to make his (playful) escape from them. The adults hadn't said anything because, despite the fact that he was bleeding, he had seemed to be fine and wasn't making **that** much of an effort to get away from the children.

By then Taro was giving Ozuru, Amano and Yukari lessons in Draconian. He noticed their attention straying and followed it to see Takehiko's arm. The man was assuring Hitomi and Van that it was nothing; just a scratch from something that had happened with Allen and Millerna.

_"Scratch" my-!_

Taro Cut the train of thought off and went right up to him, grabbed the injury and squeezed it. Takehiko stopped talking, his face paled... Then he shocked everyone who knew him speechless with what he said next.

"Doctor," He said calmly, turning a cold-eyed look on Taro, "Would you like me to break your arm?"

Completely unintimidated Taro answered mildly.

"Not particularly."

"Then stop squeezing mine."

Taro complied, but dragged him off - literally - to treat the injury. The doctor then made him go get some sleep. Takehiko slept through the rest of the day, then the night. When Taro checked the injury after Takehiko woke up it was completely healed.

He agreed not to talk about it to anyone.

* * *

**A/N:** Please, please review! It helps my motivation, which is starting to ebb with the lack of reviews... Please? The button's right there... I'd really appreciate it!


	18. Wishes

**A/N: **I won't be able to update tomorrow due to a sixteen-hour shift at work, so here's a longer-than-normal chapter. Enjoy!

Miniclio - Yeah, pretty much. Don't worry; you'll find out what Hitomi's father is eventually.

Missing White Wings 15 - You totally made my day! Thank-you! I promise hat anything not explained in this fic will be explained in it's sequel. Thank-you for favoriting this story and putting an alert on it! I am so glad that you like it that much!

katastrophe15 - Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you for putting an Alert on this story! I hope I don't disappoint!

* * *

"I just don't think that it's a very good idea." Van said.

"We'll be alright Lord Van." Meryl answered.

His expression just got more concerned.

They were all outside while the children (all ten of them) napped in the shade of the tree they were sitting under. Tyrone was lounging against the trunk, Van was sitting on a rock in the sunlight and Meryl was laying on her stomach near her children. Ozuru was taking care of transport to get Hitomi and Rhum to the place where the meeting between his boss and the Pack Leader would happen. Amano was helping around Adom again, Yukari was napping back at Van's and Taro was checking the movement of Hitomi's shoulder to make certain there was no residual damage.

"Things have settled down in the Human town near her village." Taro informed him, "As long as they think you might come, Lord Van, they're not going to try anything. To be bluntly honest they're too terrified of what you might do."

Van winced. That had been reflexive reaction to protect Hitomi. If Taro hadn't shown up when he had things would have been very bad.

"They're still close by, so if anything does happen they can come straight here." Hitomi added.

"I don't think Rhum would like-" Van started to say.

"Nonsense." The Pack Leader interrupted as he walked over, "Lady Hitomi is right; if Meryl is in trouble she should come back here. I'd be insulted if she didn't."

Relieved, Van smiled and said, "Alright; I'll leave off."

Van should have known better, but he was distracted by the situation with Hitomi, so he left it.

"Good." Rhum said, then turned to look at the litter of children sleeping in the shade, "Now which one of those pups is mine...?"

* * *

Van and Hitomi watched Meryl and her family head pack to their own village. Van was still worried, but was keeping it to himself now. The rest of Adom had already said their temporary farewells and gone back to their daily routines; it wasn't as though they wouldn't be seeing Meryl sometime in the next month. The only reason that she'd been absent for the last four years was because she had been helping Tyrone's people establish themselves in the area. It turned out that she was surprisingly good at negotiating trade agreements; it was a talent that had surprised even her.

Without realizing it the Hitomi leaned towards Van. It was only when Van tried to take Hitomi's hand in her own that she became aware of what she was doing and pulled back, made an excuse and went in search of her father. She needed some advice and her grandmother was still too heartbroken to talk to about something like Hitomi's situation.

* * *

Hitomi found her father sitting on Van's porch, observing the Beastpeople going about their routines. For some reason when her father started observing people he looked strangely... Not Human. It was like having a carnivorous, very intelligent creature staring at you. There was a casual intensity to it that unnerved most people just by itself. Hitomi and her grandmother were the only people who didn't seem to be bothered in some way or another by him when he was like that. Mamoru had a uniquely odd reaction to it though; he stared back with the exact same kind of intensity. Takehiko always smiled when his son did this and then went back to acting like he always did.

His staring didn't seem to bother the Beastpeople.

"Dad?" She called, bringing his silent attention around to her, "Can I talk to you?"

He got up and walked over to her.

"What is it Baby Girl?" He asked, still with that casual intensity.

"Uhm... In private."

He glanced around, searching, then turned his attention back to her.

"Do you want to go for a walk?"

She nodded.

* * *

Sometime later they were walking in the forest around Adom, climbing through the foothills of the nearby mountains. She was out of breath, but the climb felt good; she could forget about her troubles while she focused on not twisting an ankle and the exorcise was wonderful. After an hour they reached the shoulder of a mountain and Hitomi was amazed at how far away Adom was. She'd had no idea that she could cover so much ground in just a couple of hours! Adom was barely visible! Her father even had to point out where it was.

Her father sat down and patted the ground next to him in invitation.

"Now, what's the matter sweetpea?" Her father asked.

Hitomi took a deep breath of the mountain air, sat down where he had indicated and contemplated where to start. Finally, she started from the very beginning when she first saw Van at the train station when she was only five. From there she told him about her trip to Gaea, her unwanted return, Earth and Gaea merging, the Pairbond, to her doubts about it and her concerns about hurting Ozuru and Van.

She would never know that Takehiko nearly told her to dump Ozuru; he's evidently not the right one for her. Instead he thought it through, taking into account the fact that she was raised Human - something that he now realized had been a massive, massive mistake that had been costing Hitomi for years.

Takehiko sighed.

"There is no way to not hurt someone in this situation." He told her honestly, "It's a matter of how much and who ges hurt. Ozuru doesn't deserve the situation he's in, but Van doesn't deserve to loose you either. You said that it was only one-in-three who get a Pairbond, right?"

Hitomi nodded.

"Did anybody say anything about the other two-thirds?"

"No..." Hitomi answered, "But I figure there's a higher chance of the Desolation Madness getting him..."

He looked in the direction of Adom as he thought about everything that she had said to him. He realized suddenly that he was still mostly pretending to be Human in his response. That was not the appropriate way to deal with this situation and he couldn't help her while trying to pretend that he doesn't know any more than what she had told him about Pairbonds.

He turned his full attention on her. No carefully veiling the intensity of it from her, no more pretending to be what he's not. Just him, finally talking with his daughter about something he should have started addressing when she was a child. He maintained the glamor that gave him the face she had grown up with though.

"Ozuru is meant for someone else Baby Girl..." He told her gently, "But this has to be your choice. Do you want to be with Van? Or Ozuru?"

"...I don't know." Hitomi was a bit taken aback by his sudden change.

It was like he knew more about these Pairbonds than what she'd been told.

"Understand that Van will never find another person he can have a Pairbond with."

Her eyes went wide.

"And neither will you. You are the only person who has the power to accept or reject this Bond; that is your right... Accepting it will be completion. You will be a part of a continuum of a person. To reject it you must reject him in your heart completely. To accept it you must accept him completely; they're can be no room to love another romantically. It has to be him only and no one else."

"But I'm still in love with Ozuru..." She said, her voice quiet as she fought back tears that wanted erupt.

Hitomi covered her face with one hand, trying to keep the tears in. She wished then that this mess could just get resolved so that they could all be happy. She didn't see Takehiko's quickly hidden smile when he saw her power ripple out as a shimmer that would be invisible to Humans and that he only saw because he had been looking for it. He had sensed the intent behind her power and was glad that he'd been so straightforward with her.

_I wonder how long this will take..._ He mused as he watched the shimmer ripple out to the horizon and beyond, _My, she's powerful... Oh Sweety, I think that wish of your's is going to result in a lot of people getting to be happy... Oh, that is going to be a lot of upheaval._

Lives were about to get rearranged all over the country (at the very least), but it would be for their best in the end. He wondered how far that ripple was going to travel before it stopped. The answer was that it never would; it would encompass the entire globe and settle into the land and air and water until it became a part of the fundamental structure of the world.

He would eventually realize this at about the same time that he would realize that his daughter is a force of nature. Uncontrollable, but ultimately benign. Of course, so was Van; that was why she could relate to him, but no one else... It was also why he was the catalyst for her power. But it would be a few years before Takehiko figured all of this out.

* * *

**A/N:** So... Thoughts anyone? Like I said before; reviews keep me posting regularly! Really, they help alot for my motivation...


	19. Ideas

**A/N:** Yay! I'm back!

Missing White Wings 15 - Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you! It really helps to know that people like this story, but more than that; it really helps to know **what** they like about it, what stands out to them about the story, so thank-you again very much! Your reviews are very appreciated!

Jossi-31 - I intend to. In fact, the next chapter is just below.

* * *

Van didn't like the situation; all Hitomi had for protection was Ozuru, Mamoru and Takehiko. They're good people, but they're also not warriors. He was nervous and worried that she might get hurt again. Yes, Taro was going to be there just in case someone **did** get hurt, but Van still wanted to be there himself to protect her. He just couldn't shake the feeling that Hitomi was in danger. Unfortunately, after what had happened at Meryl's village word of the incident had gotten around and, as a result, he now scared Humans.

Van hoped and prayed that nothing would happen to Hitomi while he wasn't there to protect her.

* * *

It had been just the other night when Ozuru had finally come to Hitomi and asked if they could borrow her car. He had been embarrassed that he'd had to ask due to people being xenophobic. When he had admitted that he couldn't even find a driver Takehiko had volunteered.

As for the others... Ozuru and Taro were already at the sight, as was Mamoru.

Rhum, for his part, found the car fascinating, if too loud and smelly and asked numerous questions as they headed for the meeting place. Takehiko answered Rhum's questions as best he could, but he doesn't like cars and never bothered to learn much about them. The only thing he had learnt about them was how to drive stick or manual. Because of this Hitomi answered the majority of the questions since she had decided to learn how to keep her car running properly when she first got one. This had led to her first job as a mechanic when she realized that she actually liked working on them. Unfortunately, it hadn't paid enough and, in the end, she'd had to give the job up in favor of working behind a desk.

Takehiko was just glad that Mamoru had talked Hitomi into getting the four-wheel drive; it was proving to be invaluable since there were no roads leading to the meeting place. Takehiko parked the car where they were directed to by Ozuru, who was using arm and hand signals. He turned the engine off and they all got out, Rhum watching how Hitomi showed him to open the door. Ozuru walked over to them and led them to the meeting place.

* * *

The meeting went well.

Rhum's people are strictly carnivorous and when the Pack Leader found out about the noise levels he conveyed his concern about game being scared off. Ozuru's boss had surprised everyone by having Hitomi - whom he used to work with as a fellow mechanic - take a look at the machinery that had been brought in over the week to see if she could come up with some ways to reduce the noise levels.

They spent several hours brainstorming on possible solutions and came up with several viable options. They even came up with some ways to reduce pollution and gas consumption. Taro ended up translating their entire conversation for Rhum.

When Ozuru finally expressed his surprise that Hitomi knew so much about acoustics Mamoru explained that although she hadn't been able to get hired afterwards she had majored in acoustical engineering. This came as a surprise to Ozuru; Hitomi had never talked about anything like that with him. He was beginning to feel like he didn't know her at all, except that he knew her personality inside and out.

Finally, Hitomi and Ozuru's boss agreed to meet up tomorrow to get their ideas organized.

* * *

It took two weeks to get it all sorted out and refined. During those two weeks Van got increasingly moody and irritable while Takehiko saved Hitomi from xenophobic Humans multiple times without anyone knowing. Mamoru caught two that got past Takehiko and Taro stopped an arranged 'accident' that almost killed all of them.

No one told Van about any of it; they were all too worried about what he would do. Takehiko, however, was beginning to suspect that Van might be sensing what was happening on some instinctive level.

Hitomi woke up to Van sitting in her room, on the floor next to the door.

"You're awake." He commented as she sat up, holding the blankets to her chest defensively despite the fact that she was wearing night clothes.

Something about his entire demeanor - other than the coiled tension - was setting off warnings.

"Yes..." She answered cautiously.

"Don't go." He said suddenly.

"'Don't go'?" She echoed, surprised, then sighed, relaxing as she realized what was going on, "Van, I have to go."

The tension in his body increased for a moment, just long enough to give Hitomi some warning, and then he was across the room crouched over her on the bed. She had barely dropped backwards onto the pillows in time. Hitomi tried very hard not to think of hay and tan skin under her hands, of his callouses catching on her skin.

"Don't. Go." He repeated.

"Van, I told you; I have to." She insisted.

He ground his teeth and growled in frustration. Then he kissed her. Hitomi knew that she should have pushed him away, or resisted in some fashion, but instead she kissed him back. The kiss deepened and Van's weight settled partially on top of her.

Hands wandered, kisses trailed and mouths tasted. Hitomi almost wasn't able to some up the will to push him off of her; she liked what he was doing too much. It was the sudden realization that he was touching, kissing and tasting the same way he had in her dreams that gave her enough will power to make him stop... Precisely because it wasn't a dream. It made her realize that those 'dreams' she had been having might have been more than what she had thought they were - and that she may have been cheating (did it count as cheating?) on Ozuru and all of her previous boyfriends without realizing it, or meaning to.

Hitomi very seriously wondered if it counted as her cheating on all of her boyfriends... Or if she had, in truth, been cheating on Van the entire time. Confused, she begged Van to leave. Trying to hide his hurt (which made Hitomi want to grab him and comfort him until the hurt went away) he nodded and did as she asked.

She later asked who had told Van about the trouble that they had been running into and they all confessed that none of them had told him anything. Hitomi knew that they were telling the truth and wondered how Van had known.

* * *

**A/N:** So yeah... That was bound to happen at some point when they were alone. Please review!


	20. Thoughts

**A/N:** More father-daughter bonding.

Jossi-31 - :D. Don't worry; it'll get there... Although you're probably going to have to read the sequel I have planned for this to get all the answers.

Missing White Wings 15 - Knowing that I have inspired a fellow author is heartwarming and tells me that I'm righting this exactly the way I should be. Also, if the chapters were longer I'd loose steam and never get this story done. I'm glad that Ozuru is likeable. When I came up with him I didn't want an original character that everyone was going to hate; I wanted people to sympathize with him and not think that Hitomi is being awful for not dumping him and just going with Van.

* * *

Hitomi and her father were alone in the car heading towards the 'meet-up spot' (as it was now called). Taro, Ozuru and Mamoru had all gone ahead to make certain that nothing untoward was going to happen again and Rhum was back at Adom, since he wasn't needed for the time being. This was the perfect time for Hitomi to talk to her father about Van again since it was about two hours to the meet-up spot.

"Um, Dad?"

"What is it sweety?"

"Van... Talked to me this morning..."

"Okay..."

_Talked, huh?_ Takehiko thought, able to see the images flashing through his daughter's mind that she was trying unsuccessfully to suppress.

Being Hitomi's father by blood and having a fairly close relationship to her allowed him to - whether she liked it or not - know what was going on with her during emotional peaks. She was having one at the moment so he knew what she wanted to ask him about, but he let her ask on her own. It is polite afterall. There are ways to block that link between blood relations, but it requires things like the red zircon Takehiko wore at all times to block out his father and other family members. The stone also served to keep them from finding him via dousing or remote-viewing, hence why Hitomi remained hidden. Being her father Takehiko could shield her (and Mamoru) from them, but not himself without the stone. Theoretically, the stone should have also been blocking him from sensing anything from his children. It would require an especially close bond with them for Takehiko to pick up anything from Hitomi or Mamoru. His own father had often felt too distant and remote to touch, so Takehiko had made a point of being accessible to his own children.

Hitomi still wasn't talking so he prompted her more directly.

"What did he talk to you about Baby Girl?"

"...You know how I asked you and the others if you guys had told Van about the attempts to kill me?"

"Yes; that was earlier today."

"I had asked because he had known that I was in danger. He told me not to go today."

_Great. Someone's probably going to try something either today or very soon and it's probably either going to be big or a close call._

"How could he have known if no one had told him?" Hitomi demanded, sounding almost like she was scared.

"Why does it scare you?" He asked, rather than answering.

"Well... I... It-it's invasive!"

"'Invasive'?" He echoed incredulously, "Are you kidding? Really? You honestly think that? Oh, Baby Girl, I should have been teaching you about this stuff a long time ago. Look it's not invasive it's... How do I put this?" He thought for a moment as Hitomi tried to process the unexpected response, then finally stopped on the path the repeated trips to the meet-up spot had created and turned his full, intense regard on her, "Do you remember what I told you about Pairbonds and being a part of continuum of a person?"

She nodded.

"**That's** how he knew what was going on. That and he's psychic, so he's more aware of certain things and aware of things a Human wouldn't be. The older he gets the more pronounced these abilities will be." He sighed, "Look, Meryl - or was it Tyrone? Either way, one of them already told you that normal Humans can't Pairbond, which means that you're not normal. You need to stop trying to be and stop trying to think like a normal Human. Now, are you going to tell me why it really bothers you?"

Hitomi sunk back into her seat and thought about it. She wasn't as surprised as she would have thought that she'd be to find that he was right; something else about it was bothering her. Hitomi turned to her father again with an apologetic look and answered him.

She told him that she had kissed Van that morning and that it had almost gone much further than that. To her shock and dismay her father smiled at her and asked, "Is that all?"

To a Human that was a very inappropriate response, but to his kind it was a perfectly reasonable one; Van after all is the only person that Hitomi **should** be intimate with.

"Sweety," Takehiko explained, "He's your Pairbond."

To him that was explanation enough and he started the car again. Hitomi was surprised to find that it was explanation enough for her as well, but it still bothered her that she had cheated on Ozuru.

* * *

Taro was very annoyed with Ozuru. The man could be surprisingly brave, but also a coward. The doctor had spent a good deal of time trying to convince the other man to talk to Hitomi about her relationship and history with Van. Taro didn't know anything about Ozuru's ex, so he didn't understand why the man was so scared to ask her. They both knew that if Ozuru found out what was going on with the two then he would realize how important what Van and Hitomi had was and that he would leave her as a result.

_I can make her happy._ He kept thinking selfishly, knowing that he was lying to himself.

Ozuru knew that he was being unfair to Van and Hitomi, but couldn't seem to stop. He didn't want to loose Hitomi; she was only the second woman he had ever truly loved and found that he was too much of a coward to give her up... And he hated himself for it. Especially because he knew that Hitomi would never get mad at him for it, that she would understand why.

_Pathetic,_ He thought, _I am so damn pathetic... No wonder Naomi left me._

* * *

**A/N:** And lo, the mysterious ex-wife now has a name! Please keep those reviews coming! They keep me writing!


	21. Pain

**A/N:** Got some plot-development with Hitomi's grandfather.

Jossi-31 - Uh, no; I said that it's been **13** years. In the movie Van and Hitomi are a couple of years older than they are in the TV series. There will be no ganging up on Hitomi on the Pairbonding. As I already said, it has to be her choice.

Missing White Wings 15 - Yeah, I figured that Hitomi wouldn't be in denial forever since she's older and more mature now.

* * *

Einion stood in the doorway, watching as his wife, Enfys, struggled with the tremendous amount of pain she was in. It should have taken her only a few days to heal, but after two weeks she was as badly injured as she had been upon receiving them. These injuries were courtesy of the axe 'Takehiko' had been using, but 'Takehiko' was the son of Art, his sovreign... Who would disembowel him if he tried to go after 'Takehiko'. However... They were supposed to kill his daughter - what was her name? Hitomi? - so if Einion's killing strike happened to miss a little because she had moved at the last second, causing her to die slowly... And if she, perhaps, got away before he could speed her death along... He could hardly be blamed, right? Well, that would just be 'reaping what you sow' considering the state Enfys was in. It was only fair.

"Einion..." Enfys called weakly.

He was at her side in an instant. Taking her uninjured hand in his own he held it up to his cheek and assured her that he was right there with her. She smiled in relief.

"Will you kill him for me?" She asked quietly.

"I can't; his highness would kill me."

Enfys looked like she was about to start crying so he rushed to reassure her.

"But don't worry! I'll make his daughter suffer instead. It's fair, right?"

"Oh, Einion! I don't know what I'd do without you!" She said with genuine love for him.

In response he nuzzled her hand and vowed vengence once again.

* * *

In his study Art sat in a low-backed, wooden chair watching the entire scene play out through the large, dark, jewel and precious-metal-framed mirror in front of him. He had been waiting for something like this; it would validate what he was going to do later when he was questioned.

"One and two." He said to himself.

"Dear?" The voice came from the doorway and he turned his head slightly - without taking his eyes off of the mirror - to acknowledge that he had heard her.

A moment late a pair of fine-boned, dark hands rested on his shoulders, then slid down his chest invitingly. He took one of those hands into his own, anchoring himself to them. If not for her his spirit, his soul and his heart would have become a tundra a long time ago. She was his sun, his oasis, his source of strength, his anchor, his salvation in the midst of a centuries-long situation that would have destroyed all the good in him a long time ago. She was his wife, the mother of all his children and her name was Aifric. She was the daughter of Scota who had captured his heart one day when he had met her in a field while out on a hunt. When her parents had refused to allow her to marry him he had wiped everyone's memory of her and they had simply walked out the front gates. They were married and he had bound her life to his, so that she would age at the same rate as him (unless he died; then she would be released to age at the rate of a Human). Neither had looked back since the day they had walked away from her family.

"What are you doing?" She asked in her ever-throaty voice.

He loved the sound of her talking.

"Making note of what I need to get rid of for the 'clean up'."

"So it's almost over?"

"Almost. This is the most critical time; if I drop my guard for even an instant... We'll lose a granddaughter we never got to meet."

"...Art, what have you done?" Aifric asked quietly in his ear.

"They didn't leave me any choice; I've exhausted all other options."

"Art, no excuses; what have you done?"

He didn't want her to know, but they had promised a long time ago no secrets between them. So, unable to look her in the eye he told her. Her eyes wide she came around to crouch in front of him and asked faintly, "How could you? She's our grandchild!"

He lurched forward, his face pleading.

"If I don't get rid of the people like Einion and his wife than Art will eventually have to deal with them. They are gaining dangerous amounts of power in the last few decades - I have to get rid of them before they cause irreversible damage!"

He slumped, sitting back and feeling defeated. Aifric knew that he was right, but she couldn't help but feel horrified.

"I promise," He said quietly, his eyes coming up to meet her's and hardening, "That they will never touch her, harm her, or have any influence on her life."

Aifric studied his face, knowing that expression very well. He would die to keep that promise if he had to. Most people knew that he was a very ruthless king, they just didn't realize the full extent of what that meant. She just hoped that it didn't come down to a choice between his life and their granddaughter's.

* * *

**A/N:** So, now you've all met Takehiko's mother. You didn't really learn much about what she's like, but I have a feeling that Aifric will be writing herself into the plot a few more times. So, thoughts? Pretty please review!


	22. Patience

**A/N:** No reviews for the last chapter... T^T

I hope that you guys enjoy this one!

* * *

A few days ago Ozuru's boss and Hitomi had presented their ideas and it had turned out phenomenally well; the ideas were being implemented with Ozuru and his boss overseeing things. Hitomi wasn't helping because she had been - and still was - too exhausted. She had just healed from being shot, then spent several hours every day for two weeks helping brainstorming. She was worn out and on mandatory recuperation. Taro was a little scary when he was irritated with his patients...

Despite that she had decided to do some chores since she was staying as a guest at Van's. It gave her something to do and time to think, particularly because there was currently no one else around as she hung the laundry to dry. Adom actually had a laundrer who washed the clothes, but the families had to dry their own stuff. Normally this was something that Van did himself, but he was out hunting with her father.

Hence, Hitomi was left to her own thoughts as they circled around themselves.

She had started having the dreams again ever since she had cheated on Ozuru. In the dreams Van was acting strange, distant... And if she was right about the dreams being more than dreams than it made perfect sense why he would be. It would also mean that she had cheated on Ozuru again last night.

She felt like such a slut. Meryl had told her that there was an intense attraction between Pairbonds, but - as far as Hitomi was concerned - that was no excuse for that kind of betrayal. She was almost scared of what would happen if they restrained themselves in the dreams.

_What do I do?_ She wondered miserably, then came to a resolute decision, one she had been delaying on for some time. _Pick one or the other and stop toying with their hearts. It's time to start acting like an adult again._

But who? Did she pick Van like Ozuru's ex had picked her lover? Or did she pick Ozuru, a man who had a good heart and who had been supportive, kind, caring, patient and always there for her? The choice should have been an easy one, but it wasn't.

Hitomi's vision began to swim as her eyes teared up and she paused to try and get herself under control.

_C'mon Hitomi - you're not a baby!_ She told herself.

"Hitomi?" Yukari called, concerned about her friend; she had developed a sixth-sense about when Hitomi wasn't doing well emotionally, "Hitomi!"

Yukari's arms were suddenly wrapped around her and Hitomi gratefully leaned against her, still struggling against tears. When she longed for Van to hold her she felt even worse and lost the fight, even as she came to the realization that Van was the one she belonged with. The problem was that Ozuru would suffer badly for it if Hitomi chose Van.

It took a little while for Yukari to coax out of her what the matter was. When Hitomi finished explaining Yukari found that she could understand her friend's conundrum. On the one hand they both knew that Hitomi would never be able to completely reject Van and that the Pairbond would probably pull her back to him at some point considering that being on two different worlds hadn't mattered so far. On the other hand Ozuru was the kind of man who should be hung onto, who deserved to be happy... But usually got the short end of things anyway. He had constantly been rejected in highschool, then got dumped by every girlfriend he ever had in collage because the 'women' were being fickle bitches (Hitomi and Yukari would know since they had gone to collage with him) and then finding out that the love of his life had been cheating on him for the majority of his marriage without him ever realizing it. In short; his love-life sucked.

The way Yukari saw it there was no way out of this situation that didn't, eventually, get Ozuru hurt. She had a feeling that Hitomi realized this as well and that was what was really eating away at her. The three of them and Amano had all been friends since entering collage. The idea of Ozuru getting hurt, yet again, was not something any of them wanted to entertain.

"I have to get away." Hitomi said quietly.

They were now sitting on the porch, staring at the laundry that was hung, or still needed hanging, while Yukari held Hitomi close, comforting her friend as best she could.

"'Get away'?" Yukari echoed.

Hitomi nodded. Her friend had her doubts about whether or not that would work, but kept her peace. Takehiko had been very clear that this was something Hitomi needed to sort out. Yukari wondered, not for the first time, what that man really was. Yukari's family had a long history of being psychically gifted; in Yukari's case she could tell who was... Different, but that was about it. And Hitomi's father was **very** different. That was all she knew about him and it was more than enough to make her say 'yes sir' when it came to things like this situation with Van, Hitomi and Ozuru.

_I hope this gets sorted out soon..._ She thought sadly.

* * *

Van was leaning against a tree while Takehiko - in some clothes and shoes given to him by one of the Beastmen - skinned a wild boar. The man claimed to be out of practice at hunting, but getting that particular game animal was hazardous to one's life and proved his claim false. That or he used to be a freakishly good hunter... Scratch that; he still was. The now-dead boar was waist height on Takehiko and the man had still felled it without getting so much as a bruise, or a scratch. For one reason or another he had insisted on doing the skinning and butchering himself.

"You going to finally tell me why you dragged me all the way out here?" Takehiko asked as he pulled the skin away from the animal's haunches.

"... I'm not sure how to broach the subject." Van admitted.

"Bluntly."

_Okay..._

Van sighed and said, "Hitomi dream-walks. Often."

"Uhuh."

"She's distant outside of the dreamscapes, but in them we're... Close."

_Close._ Takehiko thought drolly, _Right._

"I don't... I don't understand! If she wants to be with me so badly that she's instinctively looking for me everytime she goes to sleep then why-?"

"Because she's trying not to hurt Ozuru. They were friends for years before they got together as a couple. During those years Hitomi watched as Ozuru got hurt over and over again by women. It took all the courage he had left to trust Hitomi with his heart and he was only able to do that because he knew her so well." Takehiko sighed and added, "He's been through a lot of heartache and heartbreak that he didn't deserve."

Van digested that before speaking again, quietly.

"Hitomi isn't meant for him..."

"No, she's not." Takehiko agreed, "Give her time and she'll figure that out."

Van hoped that she did sooner rather than later; this was killing him inside.

* * *

**A/N:** PLEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAASE review! It's my motivation to keep writing this! By the way, I think we're at about the halfway point... Not sure; this story keeps making itself longer.


	23. Cartwheels

**A/N:** Well, this is a longer than normal chapter...

Guest - Thank-you so much for reviewing! Check daily (in the evening) for new chapters!

heather549 - I was so delighted when I got the notification that this story had been favorited! Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you! I am so glad that you like this story enough to favorite it!

Now, onward to the story!

* * *

Hitomi stared at them dumbfounded. Her? Taro and Yui - Hitomi's grandmother - can both understand the language just fine! So obviously there must be more; why did they needed her?

"Please! We don't have anyone else to ask who hasn't made the situation worse."

_The stress would be too much for grandma right now and Taro's not very diplomatic when he thinks that someone's being stupid... Guess that really does leave me until they can find someone else._

"I'll... Think about it." She told them.

They thanked her profusely.

* * *

It was late at night with everyone else in bed and asleep. Hitomi sat with her back to the wall and her legs drawn up. Van sat across the room, silently working on carving a rattle for Yukari and Amano's baby; Amano was working on the cradle. Hitomi watched Van work, admiring the flex of muscle and remembering the feel of those arms wrapped around her. She made herself look away. This wasn't fair to Ozuru at all.

_I need to get away before I hurt him and Van._ Hitomi thought...

Even as all she wanted was to go over to him, lean herself against his warmth to wrap her arms around his shoulders and drink in his smell. She wanted to close the gap between them forever. Hitomi wasn't ready to admit to herself that if she hadn't cheated on Ozuru she would have picked Van. Hitomi was punishing herself for that betrayal. She was also punishing Van a bit for not backing off sooner, but it was all subconscious; Hitomi just wasn't vindictive enough to do that deliberately. She would have stopped if she had known what she was doing.

"Van..."

"What is it Hitomi?"

"Those visitors I had earlier..."

"What about them?"

"They want me to translate for the governments... Between the Earth governments and the ones from Gaea."

"I thought it's one world now."

"It is, but they don't seem to want to acknowledge that."

"That's not good."

Hitomi had to agree.

"Is it something that you want to do?" He asked.

"Not really..." She admitted, "But they said that they don't have anyone else they can ask... And that there could be all-out war if they can't get a flow of communication going."

"You were just under a lot of stress for two weeks immediately after healing from a bad injury; you need to take it easy for a while. Think of yourself first for a bit."

_Been doing to much of that..._ She thought bitterly.

"They said that there's no one else." She said again and sighed, "It's too many lives in the balance to just ignore their request... I guess I'm just going to have to do it."

It would also let her put some space between herself and Van for a little while and hopefully let her think about the situation more clearly. Hitomi was too tired to realize that she was automatically assuming that she was going to eventually return to Adom and Van.

"If you're sure..."

"I am."

"Alright. In the meantime go get some sleep Hitomi." Van advised, "You're exhausted."

"Yeah..." She sighed and levered herself up to her feet, "Goodnight Van."

"Goodnight Hitomi."

* * *

Ozuru lay awake in his room. He had heard the entire conversation and couldn't help but think that it was one Hitomi should have been having with him, not Van.

* * *

The next morning Hitomi sat on the porch of Van's house, still feeling conflicted; she didn't even hear Taro's lecture about actually getting some rest. When he realized that she wasn't hearing him he got very annoyed and then very worried. He gestured for Ozuru - who was chopping wood nearby - to come over and talk to her. As the other man put the axe down and approached he got up off of the porch, moving away to give them some privacy.

"Hitomi?" Ozuru started, sitting down cross-legged in front of her.

She gave a start and said, "Yes?"

"Why are you so distracted?"

"'Distracted?"

"You didn't even hear what Taro was saying to you..."

Hitomi looked around, confused, wondering where Taro had gone.

"I..."

She couldn't find any words and felt strangely disoriented. Guessing - somewhat inaccurately, but not entirely - what the source might be he decided to address it directly.

"You're worried about the governments' request for you to act as translator."

She gave another start.

"I overheard your conversation with Lord Van." He told her.

That hit a bit closer to the mark.

"Oh."

"Why didn't you come talk to me?" He asked, feeling hurt.

Guilt stabbed into her.

"Hitomi...?"

"It's just... It's just easier to talk to him... I-I can't really talk to others. I don't know why, but I... It's not you Ozuru; there's just something wrong with me."

Horrified that she would think something like that about herself he impulsively grabbed her close and held her. Hitomi was very startled by this, but then understood when he told her fiercely that there was nothing wrong with her.

"Why would you think that?" He demanded.

"...Because I can't relate to anyone."

"Then talk to us! To me! Any gap can be bridged, but not with silence. It takes work from both sides until they meet in the middle... So please, just talk to me from now on."

"...I will." She promised, realizing that he was right.

"Good." He said firmly, promising himself that he would stick closer to her and support and help her better in the future.

_No wonder she hadn't talked to me instead of Van..._

* * *

Taro and Takehiko (who was teaching the children how to do cartwheels) saw Van walk away from the house out a side door. Takehiko pretended to be having some difficulty with the language and had Taro come over to "Properly explain how to do cartwheels." Taro pretended to believe that he needed the help. On the false pretext that he would now just be getting in the way Takehiko left to catch up with Van.

It wasn't lost on Taro, or any of the other adults who saw the entire thing, that Takehiko headed straight for the younger man, who had gone into the forest for some privacy. Taro wished him luck with helping the heartsick King.

* * *

Takehiko found Van hidden among the foothills, behind a massive boulder at the bottom of a six and a half foot stone drop. Hanging over Van and the boulder was an old Japanese Maple, it's roots tangling over the edge and burrowing into the soil in front of Van. His back resting against the boulder he stared moodily at the roots through the fingers of his hand. Takehiko didn't need to see his expression to know the mental and emotional state he was in; it was why he had followed Van into the forest.

Hitomi's father walked over and found a seat amid the tree's roots. If the roots moved to better take his weight Van didn't think much of it; when it came to Hitomi's father expecting anything about him to be normal... It was a bit like expecting an hours-long blizzard in the middle of the hottest, driest desert, on the hottest and longest day of the year. Put another way; it was completely unrealistic. According to Yui he acted very differently around Humans. Van could understand why he would; Humans would flip out completely if they realized that they had someone amidst them who was so powerful and so different from them. Van would never understand Human xenophodia.

Takehiko leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees so that he was eye-level with the thirty-year old king.

"Do you want to know a secret?" He asked, his hair taking on a red tinge and his irises growing marginally too large to be a Human's.

Van met the other man's eyes and waited.

"The ability to see the future is a family talent. One that I have."

That had Van's attention. Takehiko studied him for a moment, his gaze unwavering, unblinking, extremely focused and very intense. The direct stare did not bother Van at all as he studied Hitomi's father just as intently. He noticed that the older man's hair was getting redder and longer. He also noticed that the years seemed to be vanishing from his face.

"...Hitomi will come back to you." Takehiko finally said into the stillness of the forest air, "Ozuru isn't stupid, he's just very lonely, very loyal and very much in love with Hitomi... And it's that love that will make him let her go."

Van noted that Takehiko's ears were poking out of his now-longer, coppery hair as a pair of points. His eyes were also noticeably larger and slanted upwards. Van wondered if he was an Elf, but then realized that the man had also become taller by six inches.

"River Clan." Van said.

At Takehiko's surprised expression he said, "Your glamour slipped."

"Ah. Whoops. How tall would you say I look right now?" Takehiko asked, even as he started inspecting his own hands.

"Six-four." Van answered.

"Ah, well - it hasn't slipped entirely then."

"Does Hitomi know?"

"Sort of. She knows now that I'm not a normal Human... In fact, her behavior is partially due to that and - thus - my fault."

"How so?"

"I tried to raise her like a Human child, so that she could blend in better. I didn't realize just how different she was because she looks like a lighter-haired version of her grandmother on her mother's side... It's left her confused about a lot... Particularly who and what she is. I should have told her a long time ago and that was my greatest failing as her father. I want you to remember that when she needs you most, despite her personal conflicts, she'll reach out to you as she always does. Hitomi will never turn to any other... Just-"

"Be patient. I know."

"It's all I can offer, or I'll change things too much."

Van nodded, understanding.

"Can you at least tell me how long?"

"No. There's to many factors right now. All I can tell you is to find the rest of your people and take on the role you were born for."

Van sighed, but nodded. It seemed that the responsibility he had never wanted was coming to rest on his shoulders anyway. Again.

* * *

**A/N:** As always; pretty please review!


	24. Concern

**A/N:** I forgot to mention this a couple of chapters ago, but Scota (Hitomi's great-grandmother on her father's side) is a historical figure.

Missing White Wings 15 - You have managed to make my day again! To be honest I had been a bit nervous about revealing Hitomi's father... And all the history in his family. So I'm very glad that you're enjoying this so much and approve of said history.

* * *

Van stood in the Human town and watched as Hitomi left in a government car. Her own was being driven by her father, who was going with her. In the vehicle was Hitomi's brother Mamoru and her mother Suzu. Amano, Yukari - everyone in Adom had taken liking to the pair - and Yui all stood with him; the latter because she was still to heartbroken to try and live among Humans. Hitomi had already said all of her goodbyes, even to Meryl, and wasn't looking back. Van did not like that she was leaving and wondered when - or if - he would see her again.

Takehiko had told him that Hitomi would eventually return to him and that he just had to be patient, but Van still couldn't quite quell his fear. Even so, he still managed to keep it in check; he had stopped being that adolescent boy prone to emotional outbursts a long time ago. Now he kept himself under control... Even if that control had slipped a few nights ago. He wondered if that was what had really made Hitomi leave. He suspected that it was.

* * *

Kanzaki Kenji was in a Retirement Home flirting with a perfectly normal Human woman when they found him. No one had any time to react when they took him and none of them remembered that he had ever even been there ten seconds after they were gone.

* * *

Kenji became aware of his surroundings again sometime later. He didn't know where it was, except that it looked like some medieval European dungeon... Although it was a lot drier and less smelly than what was usually depicted. The old man had only just registered all of this when he spotted the shadowed form of a very tall man standing by a wall.

Kenji saw and heard the man move, then there was the laud snap of fingers and lights flared to life. They were neither made of fire, nor electrical and were shifting from green to blue and back again in frigid and nauseating shades. Just as his eyes would start to focus under the green light it would shift into blue, which Human eyes can't properly focus on. The colorlessly gray stone did not help.

Einion watched as the frail old Human sitting tied in the chair tried to focus on him again and again and failed each time. At his age the Human's eyesight wasn't very good anymore, so what little chance he might have had to properly make out Einion's appearance was gone. The most he might be able to dicern would be Einion's dark hair (which was tied back), his inHuman eyes glowing as the light was caught and refracted in the back of his eyes and the prominent scar running from his brow all the way to his jawline. He might notice the pointed ears... But he would definitely notice the pointed, claw-like fingernails very soon.

Einion smiled.

* * *

Aifric snuck down into the dungeon with her closest confidant, Gwenda, close behind her. She and Art had realized that something was up when some of the Family Elders deliberately started keeping Art busy and Einion was nowhere to be found. She had recently been found to be pregnant again, so she had used the excuse that she was tired to avoid being kept busy like they were doing with her husband.

When Gwenda snapped her fingers to turn the lights on they found an old Human man unconscious, tied to a heavy chair and covered in his own blood from numerous injuries. He smelt of excrement and urine. Neither of them was even sure that he was still alive until they heard him moan pitifully. Reaching out with her mind Aifric turned the lights to red and left them their. The color encourages aggression in Humans, but it also helps to speed up healing. They believed that it had something to do with the fact that blood is red.

"Gwenda, treat him. I will keep watch."

The other woman started to object that she should be the one keeping watch, but Aifric cut in and reminded her which of them was pregnant. Using any healing techniques would cause a miscarriage. With a quick bow - the River Clan did not see any reason to make their women suffer through curtsies - Gwenda went to the old man to heal him. Like Aifric she was a Human woman who'd had her life bound so that she would live longer. Unlike Aifric, though, it had not been because one of the River Clan - who are more commonly remembered as the Tuatha de Danann, or, in recent decades (and less accurately) the Fay - had fallen in love with her. No, she had been bound to give Aifric a companion that she could fully relate to.

Aifric often worried about her.

When the healing was done Gwenda took him to one of the dungeon showers - the River Clan has a better sense of smell than Humans - and let him clean himself up. When he was done that they took him to Ruadhan (pronounced 'ROO-AN') to take him to a new Retirement Home. By then all he remembered was that he'd hit his head and stayed at a hospital over night. As for why he was at a different Retirement Home; he hadn't fit in very well at the last one, so he had been moved.

Aifric already had all of the financials taken care of by the time he arrived.

* * *

That night, when Art returned exhausted by all of the pointless things that the Elders had 'made' him do, Aifric wrapped her arms lovingly around him. She told him what they had found in the dungeon and told him how they had dealt with it. When he asked what the old man's name was and she told him he informed her that Kenji was Hitomi's grandfather. She was horrified and now worried about what he might have told them. Thankfully, Aifric had gotten the idea years ago to set up a secret surveillance system in the dungeon - just in case.

She brought up the footage, but couldn't sit through more than five minutes of it. Art made himself watch the entire thing. When it was done he calmly walked into the bathroom and spent the next hour heaving. Aifric held his hair out of the way. When his stomach settled down he rinsed it out and then spent half the night (carefully) ravishing his wife. The flow of energy between them as they did helped to wash away some of the trauma of what he'd witnessed.

Normally Aifric would be able to get rid of all of it with just a half-hour backrub, but she was pregnant at the moment and doing so would be risky for both her and the baby due how it was done. Working the trauma out of a person's body was something that she had learnt to do by observing what he did and having him explain it to her whenever something traumatic had happened to her. She had always been one to expand her knowledge and that was one of the things that he loved about her.

He was always the one to care for her when she needed care because didn't trust anyone else to look after her well being. Call him suspicious, but he was half certain that they would mess it up and/or make it worse. So he looked after her himself, just as she did the same for him... And for the same reasons.

As they cuddled in the afterglow he told her what Kenji had revealed. She felt her blood run cold and curled a hand into a fist, careful not to grab and yank on her husband's chest hairs.

"Has Ruadhan found out anything new?" She asked, pronouncing the name as ROO-AN.

"No." Art answered, "Whoever is going to, or is, helping Einion is keeping it well hidden. Has Gwenda found anything new?"

"The only thing she knew was that someone was being held in the dungeon."

They fell silent after that.

"I'm worried about Gwenda again."

"Hasn't she noticed Ruadhan yet? They've been working together for centuries..."

"No. I think he scares her... And... And I think she just needs to be able to spend some time around Humans again."

"Ah."

She noticed that his breathing was starting to even out and deepen, so she stayed silent and closed her eyes. They would talk about Gwenda in the morning. Both were asleep a couple of minutes later.

* * *

**A/N:** Please, please review!


	25. Suspicions

**A/N:** No reviews for the last chapter... T^T Anyway, sorry for the lack of update yesterday; had a killer headache that's now trying to come back. Well, enjoy - and please remember to review at the end of the chapter! It really does help.

* * *

Takehiko scanned the early-morning crowd while keeping an eye in Hitomi; he could sense a hostile presence, but not where it was coming from. At the moment he was using a Humanized version of his real appearance to act as her bodyguard. She didn't know it was him. If she had then when a dangerous situation arose he would never be able to get her to go to safety. Still, she recognized him on a subconscious level and always hesitated before using his name, the one his parents had given him; Ainmire (pronounced as 'AHN-MEER').

For the sake of appearances he was carrying a gun, something that he had thankfully learnt how to use at his son's insistence, who wanted to be able to go hunting with him. Due to multiple attempts on not just Hitomi's life, but also on family members' by xenophobic Humans any family member of her's now had a liscence to carry a gun. His poor Suzu hated having to carry one and Mamoru didn't seem to be affected by it one way or the other. The entire family had also been moved to live in a government building until further notice. This made Ainmire's life both easier and more difficult. At the very least it was making him really good at doing bilocation, which is the art of being in two places at once. Literally. It's generally referred to as using a Doppleganger among his people.

For example, his Human form was helping Hitomi buy a new pants suit, while his 'bodyguard form' was looking for any danger to her life. The last attempt on her had ended with a large cut in her best suit and her bleeding. It hadn't been serious and the blood had stopped flowing by the time she had crawled into bed.

Over the course of the last three weeks that Hitomi had been working for the government Ainmire had discovered that he can be just as heartlessly ruthless as his father. Much to his concern, so could Mamoru. Now if only he could pinpoint where they were being watched from...

* * *

Einion stood on top of a roof, watching his prince shop with his daughter - whom Einion had found out was named Hitomi, though the name held no power for her - and ground his sharp teeth in frustration. He had forgotten how diligent Ainmire is when he's dealing with his own kind. Scratch that - when he's dealing with anyone. The man had actually managed to trick Humans for thirty-five years into thinking he was one of them. He had even managed to trick a Draconian, possibly more than one.

Behind him several others were getting as impatient as him.

"This is ridiculous!" Einion finally snapped, "Why are we sneaking around like this? There was a time when the Humans knew to get out of our way! I say we remind them who they used to worship."

"Do you mean the beings who made them and us?" Art asked mildly, melting out of the air ten feet to Einion's left, "The ones who told them not to worship them? The ones who destroyed Atlantis because our forebears became arrogant and thought themselves worthy of worship? Or do you, perhaps, mean those same forebears who are all dead?"

There was no way for Einion to save face in this situation, so he just spat out the truth.

"I did not mean for them to worship us; I like living. I'm just... Impatient. I wish to return to Enfys' side as soon as possible."

"Curb your impatience." Art ordered, "You will return to her side soon enough."

Einion ground his teeth and he wasn't the only one.

* * *

Art went into his hotel room and locked the door behind him, activating the psychic net he'd put on the room. Satisfied, he went into the bathroom, locked that door, then activated the tech he'd had installed into the bathroom mirror. The glass rippled and his reflection disappeared, replaced by the image of his bathroom back home. Art climbed up onto the counter and pushed his way through the glass, emerging on the other side, back home.

Incidentally, when Aifric had used the mirrors to spend some time among Humans a few decades after running away with him Gwenda had followed her back. She had dealt with the entire situation well enough that he'd bound her and had her stay to keep Aifric company. His wife had argued to let Gwenda live among her own kind again (it's possible to unbind someone without killing the Fay involved), but he had refused; he would not isolate his wife, even if that meant taking another person permanently from their home. He didn't care about them, he cared about Aifric.

She had been upset with him about it for a while, but Gwenda had gotten her to accept the situation, which had endeared her to him.

Art hopped off of the counter and turned around to check the other side of the mirror. He reached up and turned off the mirror in his bathroom. Ever since Gwenda he and Aifric had been paranoid about making certain that no one follows them.

He left the bathroom - and found his wife still asleep in bed. Gwenda was sitting next to the bed using diagnostic equipment on Aifric. He frowned in concern and walked briskly over.

Bending over his wife protectively, he asked, "Gwenda? What's wrong?"

"Her neural activity is through the roof. I have no idea what's going on." She admitted, still running scans on his wife.

Art placed a hand on his wife's forehead and gently probed at her mind. He breathed a sigh of relief and told Gwenda that she was just talking to the baby in her sleep. He didn't tell her that he may have tired her out over the last few nights; that's private. Besides, it wasn't his fault that being pregnant made her more... Amorous. Although, the fact that she was pregnant in the first place was definitely his fault.

Relieved, Gwenda sighed and put the diagnostic equipment away. She was the one person he did trust with his wife's health, even if it was just to monitor her. She sat back and stared at Aifric. Her expression was carefully unreadable, but he could still sense what was going on behind that mask.

_No wonder Aifric's worried about her right now._ He thought with a mental grimace.

"Gwenda, there is something I have been wanting to talk to you about." Art finally said, sitting down next to is wife and stretching his long legs out on the bed as he leaned back against the headboard.

She tensed and waited.

"Do you realize that Raudhan is in love with you?"

Her eyes went wide and she blushed.

_Apparently she had not._

Regret replaced surprise and embarrassment. Warnings went off inside Art.

_No, please do not have sided with Einion..._ He silently pleaded.

"I find him..." She finally said after a stretch of silence, "Frighteningly intense."

Art frowned, but nodded. He stayed next to his wife until she woke up a couple of hours later, hoping that he was wrong in his suspicions.

* * *

That night, while his wife slept he met with Raudhan and set him to watch Gwenda. Art trusted him to protect her - even from herself if necessary. Raudhan was just grateful for the chance to spend more time with her.

* * *

**A/N:** So yeah, new character gave herself some background. By the way; I mentioned Raudhan earlier if you recall. He was the one who got Hitomi's grandfather to the new retirement home. So is anyone going to review this time? Please, please do! I really appreciate it when I get them!


	26. Arguments

**A/N:** Mamoru wanted some screen time.

* * *

Hitomi sat in a chair at a big table in a very large room. At one end of the table were Gaean heads of state and at the other those from Earth. Among the Gaeans was Millerna (turned out that 'Princess' had been her title, not an endearment), who was now the queen of Asturia. Standing close behind her was Allen, who was wearing a variation of the outfit Hitomi had last seen him in. This one was green and gold, done up to his neck with the sleeves rolled down to his wrists. On his hands were black, leather gloves that matched his high, laced boots. His hair was braided and his sword was at his waist, despite Japanese law stating it was illegal to carry one.

Hitomi wondered how Allen had managed to convince them to let him keep his sword.

_Not important._ She told herself, then said allowed in a sighing voice, first one language, then the other, "Could one of you please start talking?"

This amused both Allen and Millerna. All the other government officials had varying reactions.

"We're waiting for the maps, rather than just arguing with each other." Allen explained.

The Earth officials wanted Hitomi to translate what he said, so she did.

They had to wait another twenty-seven minutes before they could start the talks.

When the maps were brought out there were three of them; one of Earth as it used to be, one of Gaea as it used to be and one of the world as it currently was. They started working out boarders. People got stubborn, didn't want to compromise and it degraded into arguing. After an hour of this Hitomi's patience snapped. She had her period, which made her tired and sore. On top of that she'd had random people trying to kill her for the last few weeks. Now the same people that she had put her life on the line for so that they could get things sorted out couldn't get their act together long enough to stop bickering like children.

Finally getting fed up she yelled at them all to shut up and took over.

Half an hour later she had the ten easiest boarders to figure out sorted and they had moved on to the surrounding areas.

Ainmire was so proud of her.

* * *

Mamoru sat on a couch playing solitare, trying to ignore the nagging feeling of being watched. He figured the feeling was coming from one, or all, of the bodyguards in the room with him. With him was his mother and father (both reading, though neither had turned the page in quite a while) and all three of them were waiting as Hitomi translated.

For the umpteenth time Mamoru looked up and scanned the room, trying to figure out who the sense of being watched was coming from. Finally, he realized that the feeling wasn't coming from anyone he could see and got up to follow the feeling. It led him to a window facing out onto the city, with the curtains open. Given the attempts on their lives it made no sense that they would be in this room, now that he thought about it.

Spotting a man standing on a roof Mamoru's vision zoomed in on him so smoothly that he didn't even notice that it had happened. He made note of the man's long-ish dark hair and scar when he realized that the sense of being watched was coming from him. The man waved at him and Mamoru abruptly closed the curtains, stepping out of the way, just in case.

"Mamoru?" Suzu, his mother, asked, worried, "What is it?"

His father watched him with an unwavering and unblinking stare.

"We shouldn't be in a room with windows."

"Why?" His mother asked.

"We're vulnerable to snipers and we're already being watched by someone not friendly. We need to go to another room, one with no windows."

_And we need to find out which of our bodyguards is trying to get us killed._

* * *

Einion waved at Ainmire's son and smiled in amusement when the young man scowled at him and jerked the curtains closed. Until his prince's son had spotted him Einion hadn't been able to see past the glamour Ainmire had put around him. Now Einion could see that he looked like a Human version of his prince, where, before, he had seemed to resemble his Human mother.

_Well, well... Someone's got their father's blood running more strongly in them than we'd thought. I wonder what Lord Art would think if he found out that Prince Ainmire was keeping another grandchild's true level of inheritance a secret..._

"Why were you waving?" Ruadhan asked from behind him, pausing in his meal of deer steaks, a platter of buttered yam wedges, brown bread, a pitcher of water and a fruit and vegetable salad.

Einion glanced back at Art's oldest - and skinniest - friend. Rather than conjuring up a table and chair to eat his meal he was sitting on the ground like it was the most natural thing in the world. He was a part of the Dana family, like Art, but it was in name only... Not that anyone would know given the similarity in mannerisms and how laid back both of them were in certain things. Things that seemed utterly random to most people - like not bothering to conjure up a table and chair to eat and just sitting on the ground. In fact, Art had done that very thing while in the middle of holding court once because it was taking longer than normal and he was hungry. So, he sat on the stairs in front of his throne and ate his lunch in front of a scandalized court and told them, "You may continue with your bickering; I am eating my lunch."

Raudhan had been the only one with quick enough wits and enough audacity to join the king. They had been friends ever since. This had happened in Art's third year as the king of the River Clan. It was also when everyone realized that they were not dealing with someone who thought or acted like their previous kings.

Einion explained to Ruadhan - who was Art's acting watch dog for the moment - about Ainmire's son. All Ruadhan had to say to that was, "Huh. Interesting."

Then he went back to eating, much to Einion's outrage.

* * *

**A/N:** Please, please review!


	27. Protection

**A/N:**

heather549 - Yeah, they should have done a sequel to Escaflowne.

Missing White Wings 15 - Always glad to know that I'm pleasing the readers!

* * *

Hitomi walked into the new room and flopped down onto the couch with a sigh. Ainmire took up a guard position halfway between the door and Hitomi, facing towards the door. Sitting on the couch opposite her mother, Suzu, had fallen asleep while reading a magazine. On the coffee table in front of the older woman was half a sandwich and a cold cup of tea. Ozuru came up behind Hitomi and started rubbing her shoulders.

"Mamoru," He said, "Thinks that one or more of the bodyguards might not be quite so trustworthy."

_Great._ She thought sarcastically, then said aloud, "Is that why he and dad aren't here?"

"Yeah. Your mom tried to stay up to wait for you, but she fell asleep about an hour ago. So, how did things go? Or are you not allowed to say?"

Since the day that Hitomi had made the promise to Ozuru to talk to him more she had kept true to her word. He understood her much better now, but she still couldn't relate to him. She had, however, gotten very good at pretending that it helped.

So Hitomi told him about her day.

* * *

Mamoru and Takehiko pelted down the hall after the bodyguard. It hadn't taken much to figure out who had been setting them up for a sniper shot - because it had been all of them. It had been the sniper who was supposed to have killed them that sold them out. He was found tied up in the same building that Mamoru had seen the man with the scar standing on. After finding the tied-up sniper the government spooks couldn't get him to tell them anything short of using torture. Takehiko and Mamoru were given a chance to talk to him in an attempt to guilt the sniper into giving them the information they wanted. Instead, it took the two of them five minutes to scare him into spilling everything. When the arrests were made one of the bodyguards got away - and that was how father and son ended up chasing him down.

It turned out that Takehiko knew the scared man and warned his son to never, ever trust him; he was not likely to have been the one to tie up the sniper. It was most likely the work of another man named Ruadhan. The one with the scar, he had told Mamoru, is named Einion

The man that Takehiko and Mamoru were currently chasing was deliberately aiming for where Suzu and Hitomi now were. It did not end well for him. When he burst into the room, gun drawn, he immediately encountered Ainmire, who grabbed his wrists and lifted him up until his feet were dangling off the ground. Ainmire then reached up with one of his gloved hands and flicked the gun safety on. He then squeezed the man's wrists until, with a yell of pain the bodyguard released his grip. Still squeezing, Ainmire removed the gun from his hands, tossed it across the room ("No one touch that.") and punched the man so hard in the diaphram that he immediately coughed up blood. He added another to the gut and felt at least one organ rupture. Ainmire broke a couple of ribs for good measure before letting the man drop to the floor in an agonized heap.

Takehiko feigned shock at himself, mimicking bits and pieces of everyone else's expressions. By that point Suzu was wide awake and trying to stay calm. Ozuru had hauled Hitomi over the back of the couch and pushed her behind him so that she had two people between her and the threat. The room was so quiet that a pin being dropped could have been heard.

Ainmire stared at the man on the floor and didn't even consciously register when he started howling in agony. All he could think was, _There had been no one to protect Suzu._

This was not acceptable. The problem was that he didn't know anyone that he could trust to keep her safe... But he knew someone who would take his side in this situation and would possibly (most likely) know someone else that he could trust to keep his wife safe from harm.

* * *

Everyone was now asleep, except Ainmire. His doppleganger lay next to Suzu in their bed and held her close as he lay awake, watching her sleep with an unblinking gaze. Ainmire was sitting in a room attached to Hitomi's. In front of him was a mid-sized mirror that his mother had given him years ago to contact her with. Finally, nervously, he activated it. It was several minutes before he saw her; she looked like she had just gotten out of a shower... With his father, judging by that red mark on her neck.

_Someone must have been flirting with her again._

His father could be very possessive at times, at least when it came to Aifric. She gasped when she saw him, then smiled. He couldn't help but smile back. Then her smile faded.

_"I know what your father has been doing." _ She said seriously, then asked, _"What's happened?"_

He sighed and told her about the bodyguards and how it ended. Aifric was suitably worried about Suzu.

"Is there anyone that I can trust to protect her?" Ainmire asked, hoping that the answer wouldn't be the one he feared.

_"...Your sister is the only person I can think of that's available."_

"Which one?" He asked.

It was a reasonable question; more than half of his siblings were sisters.

_"Fiona."_

Fiona would be perfect.

* * *

Fiona arrived early the next day and Ainmire introduced her to his wife.

* * *

**A/N:** Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and - as always - please review!


	28. Sneaky

**A/N:** And now you find out why Art knew Allen's mother.

* * *

Allen and Millerna were having their dinner when they heard a commotion in the hallway. Pausing in their meal they exchanged a glance, then got up to investigate. As they headed for the door Millerna wished for a pair of shorts or pants rather than the skirt her ministers had forced her to wear for the negotiations. They had insisted that it was "only proper". She insisted that it was inconvenient and impractical.

Allen opened the door and they both looked out into the hallway. All they saw was a man wearing black being chased by two coldly furious men. Because they were pretending not to understand the language they were left wondering what had happened for three hours. Worried about Hitomi they figured out how to get to where she and her family were being housed and planned it for the next morning.

Years of experience from having to sneak around while they were fighting Lord Folken got them to Hitomi's apartments without being spotted even once.

* * *

Hitomi and everyone else - except Ainmire - gave a start when they heard a knock on the door first thing in the morning. Ainmire opened it. Takehiko took a quick look around himself and said, "Ah! Allen! Millerna!" He turned to Ainmire and said, "You can let them in."

Allen and Millerna both raised an eyebrow at this, wondering what was going on.

"This is Ainmire. He's Hitomi's bodyguard." Takehiko explained.

Without skipping a beat Allen said, "Ah, I see."

Millerna nodded to indicate that she understood and Ainmire stepped aside. The two walked in and he closed and locked the door behind them. Takehiko introduced them to Fiona, who nodded, then paused and gave Allen a very scrutinizing looking as he and Millerna went over to Hitomi asking if she was alright.

"We heard about what had happened." Millerna explained.

"Don't worry; I'm fine. Thankfully, they were found out before anything could happen." Hitomi explained, then introduced the two to her mother and brother.

Suzu and Mamoru responded politely, trying to figure out how Hitomi knew the two - apparently - so well. Pleasantries were exchanged that felt stiff and stilted on both sides, neither entirely sure how to respond to the other.

"You look an awful lot like Encia..." Fiona commented with a thoughtful frown, her voice cutting through all of the others.

"That was my mother's name." Allen explained, turning to face her, "I believe that the last time you saw me was just after Celena was born."

Confusion, then realization, followed by delight played across Fiona's face. With a delighted, "Oh my goodness!" she all but flew across the room and hugged Allen, who hugged her back.

"I can't believe my grandson is all grown up!" She exclaimed, startling everyone except Ainmire and Allen.

After a couple moments of hugging him she held him out at arms length, giving him another inspection and said, "Oh, I always forget how quickly mortals mature and grow..."

"Don't worry about it too much; I've still got a few more decades to go."

"Don't talk like that." Fiona reprimanded with a pout.

"Sorry, sorry."

"Uh, Allen, dear..." Millerna interjected, "Is there something that you forgot to tell me?"

Surprised by the queen's phrasing, Fiona looked over at Millerna with raised brows. Then she turned to her grandson, who looked about the same age as her and said, "You forgot to introduce me to your wife."

"Uh, she isn't/we're not my wife/married." The pair answered at the same time, earning more than a few raised eyebrows.

It sounded like they'd had to say this more than once.

"Uhuh..." Fiona said somewhat flatly, then turned her full attention to grandson and said, "So you just got her pregnant out of wedlock."

It was a statement, not a question. Allen's eyes became riveted on Millerna's stomach.

"What?" Millerna exclaimed, "I'm not-"

Fiona interrupted and stopped her dead by telling her how far along she was and adding that it was a boy. Millerna's hands flew to her lower abdomen. Was she really? She found herself hoping that Fiona was right.

"The ministers are probably going to kill me." Allen commented, not sounding overly worried.

Hitomi's father did some quick math on a hunch and confirmed that the conception had happened exactly one week after Hitomi's power had rippled out while he was talking to her on the shoulder of the mountain. It had happened within a few days of when his mother had gotten pregnant too, for that matter.

_Oh, Hitomi, Sweety... You were thinking about babies a lot weren't you?_ Takehiko/Ainmire thought, more than a little bemused.

It was exceedingly normal for Pairbonds to have babies on the brain rather extensively.

As the silence stretched with everyone trying to figure out how to proceed Hitomi came to a sudden realization. Allen and Millerna had not had enough time to learn Japanese well enough to have no accent. And yet they were speaking it like they had known it for years and had been using it for just as long. She decided to ask them about it.

"Um... I know this is kind of off topic..." Hitomi said, "But Allen, Millerna... How do you know the language?"

Thankfully, Ozuru chose that moment to return with lunch. When all eyes turned to him he stopped dead. The first thing that he noticed - other than all of the attention being directed at him - were the two foreign dignitaries standing in the room. The second thing that he noticed was that Allen, Fiona and Ainmire all looked like they were relatives from the same family.

_There's a story behind this._ He realized, then wondered if he would ever find out what it was.

"Uh... What's going on?" He asked, confused and flustered.

Takehiko leapt on the opportunity and proceeded to keep Hitomi too occupied and distracted to ask a second time why Allen and Millerna could speak Japanese. Ozuru was not comfortable with all of the attention put on him and kept blushing throughout the entire ordeal. Hitomi's father felt only marginally guilty.

* * *

**A/N:** So... Any opinions on Fiona? If not, please review anyway!


	29. Messed Up

**A/N:** Sorry for making you wait. Both my brother and I use tablets to do our writing. The problem is that there's only one keyboard; mine. So my brother uses the digital one on his tablet. You'd be amazed at how many typing errors this causes and at how frustrating editing suddenly becomes. I let him borrow my keyboard the other day. This may happen again in the days to come.

Anyway, all of that aside - enjoy this chapter! And please excuse any spelling errors; my spell checker is currently asleep.

* * *

Einion was sitting next to his wife, the curtains drawn back from the bed. She was getting worse, weaker as time went by and her injuries remained unhealed. He felt helpless and useless. How was he supposed to tell his beloved wife that he had failed to kill Hitomi? Right now he didn't have to though; she was unconscious and oblivious to him and the world. He looked at her pale face and wanted to weep. Einion took her hand in his own and was scared by how cold it felt. He yelled for the doctor, who came running in immediately. They kicked Einion out of the room and went to work.

Einion paced in the hallway for what felt to him like years, shooting anxious, terrified glances at the heavy, carved, dark red door. Eventually it opened again and the doctor stepped out.

"I'm sorry My Lord, but she doesn't have very long left." They told him, "Even if we could figure out and fix whatever is stopping her from healing..." They trailed off, shaking their head and gave Einion a sad, apologetic look.

They left after that, leaving him standing there in shock. If Enfys was so far gone then that meant the only thing keeping her alive at the moment was the Pairbond. His world seemed to tilt and spin crazily about him and he couldn't make it stop

_I need help_. He thought dizzily.

* * *

That night several of the family Elders stood in the room behind him as he held his dying wife's hand. They waited patiently for him to talk. Enfys still hadn't woken up.

"I promised her..." He finally said quietly, then more loudly, "I promised her that I would get revenge for her. I can't kill the one who did this to her because it was Prince Ainmire. However his daughter, Lady Hitomi has been ordered executed by our king. My beloved Enfys has been made to suffer. A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye and a life for a life. When we get Lady Hitomi **I want her life**. I will make her suffer as my Enfys has suffered. Do any of you object?"

None of them did and all of them promised to hand Hitomi over when the time came. They began making plans.

* * *

Art and Aifric sat holding each other as they watched the scene with Einion and the other Elders unfold. There were several in that room that they had called friends for a very long time. Aifric clung closer to Art; she could feel him trembling, his breathing too controlled as he tried to quell his emotions. It seemed that he was going to have to kill friends as well as old enemies.

He didn't know how he was going to face Aifric afterwards.

* * *

Gwenda watched, careful not to be seen, while Ruadhan was told by Aodh - who had been present for it - about the meeting with Einion. She had been keeping an eye on him for years; Aodh had something on him that was letting the Elder keep Ruadhan under his thumb. Gwenda had no idea what it was, but had come to the point where it no longer mattered. Things were coming to a head and she was old enough and wise enough to realize that he was likely going to die.

If he survived it would be nothing short of a miracle.

A few hours later and Ruadhan and Gwenda's roles were reversed. They were out amid the mountains that kept the River Clan hidden. She stood below him, waiting for someone, as he leaned himself between two massive stones; his back to one and his feet against the opposite. He had an affinity for the Earth energy field, which meant that he could effect and manipulate mass, density, gravity, magnetism and - to a limited degree - time.

Put simply; holding the position that he was in was easy and he knew on a subconscious level what was coming. His power was why he had been adopted into the Dana family in the first place. People had been vying to control him since before he had taken the surname and he had gotten fed up with it all long before he had met Gwenda. The day that Art had sat in front of the throne, eating his lunch, and told the Ministers and Elders that they could keep arguing while he ate was the day that Ruadhan had realized Art was a king worth following. So he had declared that day to all those who sought to control him who he would follow by having his lunch as well.

None of them had been happy; Art was not - and still wasn't - a weak king. They all knew this and were furious that Ruadhan had aligned himself with him. Ruadhan, for his part, had been surprised by how well he got along with his king over the years. But, then again, the two of them could usually get along with most people, so maybe it wasn't that surprising.

Ruadhan frowned when he heard a man coming up the path and tried not to jump to conclusions.

Despite where he had wedged himself (the sun should have had him clearly out lined) the person culdn't see Ruadhan. This was because Ruadhan was using a gravity lens to bend light around himself. It meant that he couldn't see anything (at all; it was like being completely blind), but Ruadhan had learnt to compensate when he did this. In fact, some fine-tuning allowed him to hear what was being said outside of the bubble, though it came through distorted and took a little concentration to understand. The fine-tuning, unfortunately, also left a tell-tale distortion outlining him and anything on him that stuck out enough (his nose, for example). If either the man or Gwenda had looked closely they likely would have spotted him. Both were distracted though. Gwenda, by whatever had her so agitated and the man by Gwenda.

Rudhan listened as she asked the man to deliver something and he asked what it said. This told Ruadhan that it was most likely a message of some sort. Gwenda quickly shushed the man, telling him that she may have been followed.

_Yeah,_ Ruadhan thought dryly, _By myself and an assassin that - thankfully - the Spirit of the Mountain decided it didn't like and buried under a landslide after dropping them off of a cliff._

Many of the most prominent Human cultures believed that things like mountains were just static objects. Then there were the smart ones who realized that some 'natural phenomenon' were very deliberate on the part of the land. Those of the River Clan could see and communicate with the Spirits. An individual's affinity for the energy fields (Earth, Metal, Water, Wood and Fire) effected how well they could see or hear a particular Spirit. In Rudhan's case he could hear and see the mountain Spirit as well as he could hear or see anyone. It was why he had backed off of killing the assassin, giving himself just enough time to get away before being buried alive. He was just grateful that the Spirit had noticed him as well and warned him to get out of the way.

An assassin going after Gwenda was, unfortunately, normal. There were many elders who wanted to isolate the Queen and her closest confidant was a good target. Afterall, they could then replace Gwenda with someone of their choosing and thereby exert influence over the Queen, who would influence the King. It was an overly elaborate way to try and control Art... That would never, ever work. Someone, however, was apparently too stupid to realize this. As a result Ruadhan had been left with two options. One) tell Gwenda about the attempts on her life and leave her constantly terrified, or two) deal with them himself and let her be afraid and creeped out by him alone. He had picked the latter option.

Gwenda's rendevous retreated down the path. Ruadhan waited patiently for the other man to be far enough away before he was going to reveal himself. Since the path she had taken was now buried by a landslide Gwenda would need to be shown another way back. Knowing that she was about to be thoroughly creeped out - and probably scared (again) - by him he released the gravity lens and realigned the Earth field. The Spirits in the two boulders he had wedged himself between thanked him and he gave a polite response before jumping down to land lightly behind Gwenda.

Bad timing meant that she wasn't facing him and jumped half out of her skin when she turned around and did see him. His senses - especially his vision - were still a little off so he stood still and waited for them to return to normal. It took a few minutes. When they did and he tried to coax her into going with him he failed abissmaly. He wasn't overly surprised.

Gwenda insisted on going back the way she had come and did exactly that. Ruadhan walked with her silently since talking casually would have been just as creepy. When they came to the landslide and she realized that he had been telling the truth Gwenda couldn't help but wonder if he had caused it. She didn't dare ask.

Ruadhan silently escorted her back home via a different route and wished that his relationship - if it could even be called that - with her weren't so creepy and messed up. He had no idea that she knew about his situation with Aodh, or that she knew he had been saving her life almost since she had arrived. Gwenda wished that her relationship - if it qualified as such - with him weren't so creepy and messed up.

* * *

**A/N:** Well, hope that was worth the late update. PLEASE review! I'd really, really appreciate it!


	30. Discussions

**A/N:** Sorry guys, I forgot to give you the pronunciation of 'Aodh' when the name first appeared. It's 'AY'. Yeah, I know. Anyway, enjoy the chapter! Sorry that it's so short.

* * *

Van sat with Yui off to the side. He was nervous, waiting to see how many, if any, of the Dragon Clan responded to his summons. If they did then Taro would be bringing them up to Adom. Rhum had already cleared this as okay and procured some extra food for them. He'd had to trade to get the food, but that turned out to be fairly easy; things between Meryl's village and the their Human neighbors had settled down and even become downright cordial. Tyrone, as it turned out, is border-line freakishly good at dealing with Humans. Between him and Meryl they were keeping the peace and getting the Humans over their xenophobia.

"Calm down, Lord Van." Yui advised.

Heading the advice, he took a deep breath and focused on his heartbeat until it returned to a normal pace. By then Taro had arrived and ushered in those who had responded to his summons.

"Lord Van, allow me to introduce the Clan's most respected members." Yui said to him.

It seemed that all of the Draconians had answered his call.

He nodded in greeting and invited them to sit. Once they had themselves arranged a middle-aged looking man spoke up.

"You summoned us with respect, so we will listen to your words. After that we will decide what we will do."

"I understand." Van said, bowing slightly from his seated position.

This shocked all of them into silence, even Yui. So he started talking and they listened.

They liked what they heard.

* * *

Fiona was standing guard while Suzu was having lunch with her family when a knock sounded on the door. Ainmire answered it. He was handed something that she couldn't see and he closed the door again. It turned out to be a letter. With a look of surprise he handed it to Fiona, saying that it was addressed to her.

As surprised as her little brother (who was the eldest son, not the eldest child) she took the letter and opened it. The subject matter was Ruadhan and it was from Gwenda. If it had been from anyone else Fiona would not have believed a word of it. She'd need to talk to Ainmire later.

That night Fiona and Ainmire stood in the front room of the quarters the Kenzaki family had been given. She waited as he silently read the letter over. Finally, he said simply, "Aodh has probably got a knife over Gwenda's head that Ruadhan can't find. That," He added with a sighed, "Or there is - for some reason - no way for him to remove the threat."

Fiona nodded her agreement on Ainmire's assessment.

"Do you think that there's anyway for us to stop this from turning into another family tragedy?" Fiona asked.

Ainmire thought back to when his daughter's power had rippled out about a month ago and wondered if they would have to do anything at all.

"Be vigilant." He answered, "And, if possible, capture Aodh or Ruadhan."

"I hope we get the chance."

"So do I."

* * *

**A/N:** Plot development in less then six hundred words. Pretty please review!


	31. History

**A/N:** I've been flip-flopping on the spelling for Hitomi's surname... Sorry for the inconsistency. It's 'Kanzaki'.

Missing White Wings 15 - Let me get you in on a little secret; I planned the basic plot of what was going on with Van, Hitomi and Ozuru. Then a bunch of other characters decided that they wanted in on the story as well and I just worked them into the plot from there. This thing took over and started writing itself. Yeesh. _Connections_ was only supposed to be ten chapters long; now the outline has gown to thirty-nine and is probably going to get longer as things progress.

* * *

"This is ridiculous." Millerna stated, displeased.

They were taking another scenic route (it involved one of the gardens this time) to go back to their own rooms after visiting with Hitomi. Recently Hitomi had been getting increasingly tired, so the world leaders were taking a break to let Hitomi rest. This was mostly because Ainmire had turned into a protective dad ("**Let. Her. Rest.**"). No one wanted to argue with the read-haired man when he decided to be... Unyielding. Allen and Millerna figured that it was there survival instinct kicking in.

"What is?" Allen asked mildly, understanding that she was waiting for the prompt.

"Having to do this just to make certain that a friend is doing alright."

"She's supposed to remain impartial. If she's seen with us regularly then other state officials could construe that she's favoring us, or making deals."

"It's still ridiculous."

"Yes dear."

Millerna stopped dead. Allen stopped as well and waited. She processed what he had said, blushing. Since that one time (when Allen had apparently gotten her pregnant) while they had been traveling to meet with the other world leaders he had gone back to being formal with her. Never once had he called her anything but by her title and - during a couple of slip-ups - her given name. He had told her that he never should have touched her. She had been furious with him, but she had to work with him until the border problem was worked out. To that end she had remained civil.

Almost afraid to call him on what he had said she decided to go about it a little roundabout.

Whirling around she got a little up in his face (much to his amusement) and demanded, "Did you just 'yes dear' me?"

"Perhaps."

"Ooo... Watch it mister, or your sleeping on the couch!"

With that she whirled around and started walking again.

"The couch, huh? We'll see." He murmured to himself, now even more amused, before following in her wake.

* * *

Taro stepped out of his car in front of the gates. The building was one of the oldest in Japan and had been converted to accomadate the Gaean delegates due to it's placement. With all of the geographic rearrangement it was now in a strategically ideal area for this use. He was escorted him into a curtained off area on the side of the road and the guards had him strip. His clothes were folded up, put in a box for pick-up later and he was given a different set to wear. He supposed that was one way to ensure nothing got in that wasn't supposed to.

_What kind of problems have they been having?_ He wondered.

Finally they were done, he was dressed again and he could go back to his car. They had a plain white one waiting for him. He was to take that one the rest of the way and his would be parked in a secure place until he left. Not much he could do.

_**What kind of problems have they been having**__?_ He wondered again.

* * *

Not that long after getting through the gates he was knocking on the door to the Kanzaki family's rooms. He was more than a little shocked to see Ainmire, crown Prince of the River Clan answering the door.

"Can I help you?" The Prince asked coolly.

"...I was looking for Hitomi Kanzaki...? I seem to have been misdirected. If you'll excuse me-"

Ainmire grabbed him by his shirt before he could go anywhere.

"Name?" The Prince asked.

"What?"

"Your name. What is it?"

Taro reluctantly told him. A moment later and Hitomi - much to Taro's shock - peeked around Ainmire and told the tall River Clan man that Taro was a friend and he could let him in. Once Taro was inside and the door was closed he said his hellos. He tried not to be too stunned when he noticed that Princess Fiona was also present. He told them that he had a message from Van for Allen and Millerna, but he couldn't get to either of them... That, and, he had no idea who Allen and Millerna are, other than mutual friends of both Hitomi and Van and that Van had said they were at Gaean-Earth Embassy.

"It'll have to wait until tomorrow." Mamoru informed him.

"Unsurprising." He replied.

After that he was invited to have lunch and Ainmire had it cleared that Taro could stay indefinitely as Hitomi's physician. That last part really caught Taro off-guard; he had expected Ainmire to throw him out the door - literally - at the soonest opportunity given their long and violent history. Most of it involved Ainmire beating him half senseless whenever he did something to deserve it. In fact Taro had moved to Japan and changed his name to get away from the man. A year after arriving he'd been forced to do community service at a children's hospital. It changed his life by reminding him of his calling. He had retrieved the medical equipment that he had come to Earth with and went to a naturopathic medical school where he got his licence to practice.

He had no idea that Ainmire was the true form of Hitomi's father... Or that the man was enjoying making him squirm. Ainmire wasn't trying to toss him out because of what he'd done for Hitomi, but he wasn't about to tell Taro; the Draconian had given him more than a few headaches over the years. Payback can be so much fun sometimes.

* * *

Allen woke up the next morning in the same bed as Millerna. She was laying on her back, the sheets down around her hips. Their legs were tangled together and one of his hands was on her lower abdomen. Being half River Clan meant that he could sense the tiny spark of life in her womb if he placed his hand there.

Watching Millerna sleep - her hair a tangled mess from the previous night - he realized that if he tried to back off like the last time then he would just end up waking up next to her eventually. Again and again and again... Something about Millerna just pulled him in and he found himself wanting to touch her, kiss her and make her smile and laugh. Her now-dead older sister, Marlene, had done the same thing to him, but not to the same degree. He used to think that it was Millerna's resemblance to her that attracted him, but he often found, instead, that it was the very differences that pulled at him even harder.

Marlene had always comported herself as a proper Lady of high breeding; kind, gentle, caring, calm, always polite, hated fighting and always 'remembered her place'. Millerna was kind, caring - and a total tomboy who had demanded that he teach her how to fight when Asturia had capitulated and then fallen to the Black Dragon Clan. If she had a choice between a skirt and a pair of pants she would choose the pants, if the choice was between doing needle-point and horseback riding, she'd go horseback riding. Her sister - both of her sisters, actually - had been the complete reverse.

He supposed that, since he's just going to end up being intimate with Millerna again in the future, there was nothing for it and he'd just have to marry her. Besides; he'd already gotten her pregnant and he isn't the kind of overgrown child to abdicate the responsibility of that. Allen also just didn't want to miss the opportunity to be a father to their child.

The prospect of being Millerna's husband and the father of her children made him smile.

* * *

Later that morning Allen and Millerna arrived a little after breakfast. Taro passed on his message that Van had found survivors of the Dragon Clan and that they wish to live on their own lands. The problem was that another country was claiming that land as theirs. Van had gotten the information from a fellow Clan member who had been staying abreast of the situation. He needed their help in order to get an audience with the appropriate people to get his lands back.

Allen and Millerna left early to see what they could do. When they asked Taro assured them that he had a few people he could use to get word back to Van.

* * *

**A/N:** So, that's one couple that's finally gotten together properly. Now we've just got one more to go. Please review!


	32. Asura

**A/N:** I'll be honest; I'm a bit nervous about this chapter. Tell me what you guys think.

Missing White Wings 15 - It's always great to hear that from someone who reads what you right. Thank-you very much! I really do appreciate the reviews.

* * *

Someone - other than himself - had noticed that Gwenda was sneaking around the mountains to deliver messages. The person that they had sent was known for being brutal, particularly towards women. So Ruadhan had decided that they needed to go, which is how this person wound up on the ground with spikes grown from their own bones pushing at the underside of the corpse's skin. It was, he reflected, a disgusting sight.

"The person who sent them," A raven said from a tree branch, "Knew what her messages were about."

Ruadhan looked up at the mountain Spirit's chosen form and frowned. With a quick thank-you he headed off at a loping pace to catch up with Gwenda. The raven followed.

* * *

He caught up with her on the shoulder of the mountain. Sneaking up on her was another would-be assassin. This one was good. They weren't using any glamour, gravity-lensing, or any other 'supernatural' ability to hide themselves and the raven still had to show Ruadhan where they were. Thankfully, they had no idea what the raven was and thought nothing of it when the mountain Spirit swooped down right next to to them to catch a mouse.

Ruadhan just barely killed them in time to save Gwenda's life; the assassin put up a fight, but Ruadhan still ended their life in only a matter of seconds. She was, of course, facing the other way. The almost - but not quite - soundless commotion behind her made Gwenda turn around just in time to see Ruadhan emerge out of the waist-high grass covered in blood. He was not surprised and was even very understanding when she let out an ear-splitting shriek.

Any descendant of Atlantis fresh out of a fight was an unnerving sight to a Human; it didn't matter if they were completely clean, or caked in gore. Each of the thirteen Clans were the descendants of Atlas' half-human children. Some of the Clans - such as the Dragon Clan - were more Human than the others. The River Clan was the least Human and even had Asura blood in them. This took them from being unnerving and straight into terrifying. Ruadhan had more Asura in him than most; it was why he had opted to follow Gwenda in secret and be her personal stalker.

Gwenda's legs gave out under her and her rump hit the ground.

"Gwenda," He crooned, "I wont hurt you..."

Ruadhan was trying to calm her down. He had forgotten that his long, shark-like teeth were harder to hide with the shapeshifting he normally uses right after fighting, or killing someone. As a result his attempt to calm her down completely backfired and she got up and ran in the opposite direction of him - which was straight towards a sheer drop of several hundred feet. He just barely caught her before she went over edge in her blind panic.

It took him a little over an hour to calm her down enough that she wasn't shrieking anymore and was actually coherent. He explained that this was why he followed her in secret; she had people trying to kill her regularly and seeing him after a fight, or during, had this effect on most people, including his own. Art was among the few who he didn't have such an effect on (along with Einion, Enfys and a dozen or so others). What Ruadhan didn't explain was that of those people Art was the only one that was so frightening he had, on occasion, literally scared someone to death.

It was when she actually thanked him for stalking her that Gwenda finally snapped out of it fully. She was, quite frankly, horrified and dumbfounded at herself. Ruadhan was just as shocked and concerned as her. After that he was able to get her to talk and tell him what her messages were about and who they were to... But only after she got him to explain what Aodh had on him. It took some bartering back and forth, but he eventually explained. Simply put; it was Gwenda's life. Art had tied her life to Aodh believing the Elder to be loyal. He could sever the connection at any point in such a way that she would drop dead immediately. If Ruadhan didn't do as Audh wants then he will do exactly that.

Gwenda digested it all, then reached over, grabbed Ruadhan by his shirt and yanked him close.

"Now you listen to me." She snarled into his face, "You stop being Aodh's puppet and you start doing what you know is right. I'll not be anyone's hostage so stop letting him make me into one!"

"If I don't you'll-"

"If he kills me then he has nothing to hold you back. I'm more valuable to him alive."

Ruadhan suddenly realized that she was right and that his own fear for her safety had blinded him. It was time for him to rethink things. For starters, she was going to be staying close to him at all times. But first, he had a question for her.

"What were you doing out here in the first place?"

She hesitated before admitting that she had known he was protecting her from assassins for some time and that someone was going to send more than normal because of her sneaking around to deliver the messages. Gwenda had decided to lure them out someplace where Ruadhan had the advantage. With an unreadable expression and without a word said he pried her hands off of his bloody shirt, picked her up and put her over his shoulders in a fireman's hold and started walking home.

Gwenda loudly protested the entire way.

* * *

**A/N:** So, what did you guys think of this turn of events? Please review and let me know!


	33. Emotion

**A/N:**

Whitewolf Devils fire - Thank-you for putting this one your Story Alert subscription!

zharpychan - Wow. I'm glad that you're liking this so much!

* * *

Aifric was sitting with Gwenda in a garden, Art sitting beside her. standing guard behind Gwenda was Ruadhan, looking for all the world like a potentially demonic guard dog perfectly at ease in his environment. It was a little frightening. After a while Aifric gave up the pretense and asked Gwenda what was going on with Ruadhan. Her friend cautiously explained what had happened the other day.

Aifric chewed her out for being so reckless.

When Art asked Ruadhan why he had finally told Gwenda about the assassins (even though he had made the choice not to) Ruadhan told him, "Because I couldn't stand her being so terrified of me."

Art was not surprised by the answer. If anything, he was surprised that his friend had been able to hold out for so long. He had both of them hold their hands out and took them in his own. A few moments later and Aodh's link to Gwenda's life was severed. She was, instead, now bound to Ruadhan. His friend and Gwenda were both relieved, though Gwenda wasn't entirely sure how she felt about being bound to her stalker. Even if his reasons for stalker her had been to protect her it was still creepy.

* * *

When Fiona got the letters from Gwenda and her mother about the change of situation with Ruadhan she was more relieved than she could put words to. Ainmire was similarly relieved when she let him read the letters. Their family had finally managed to avoid a tragedy. It gave her hope for Van and Hitomi.

* * *

It was four days later that saw Van sitting at the negotiating table with Hitomi translating. That first day didn't go very well on the negotiation. The next day he got lost.

Van couldn't find his way around the old building, much to his own chagrin. He found the layout of the building to be twisting and confusing.

_I wonder if this used to be a castle..._

His thoughts trailed away when he saw Hitomi in a sleeveless top and pencil skirt asleep in a chair in the hallway. She looked exhausted and the position looked uncomfortable. He felt his heart soften at the sight of her even as worry started niggling at him. Wasn't she getting enough sleep? Ever since Hitomi had left he'd been keeping himself as distracted from her as possible, but now - looking at her - he felt unreasonably guilty.

_I should have been there for her._ He thought, though he knew that it was ludicrous under the circumstance.

Van hesitated for a moment, then walked forward and crouched down in front of Hitomi's sleeping form and watched her for a moment. He reached out and gave her a light shake, calling her name. After a couple more shakes she stirred and mumbled his name as a question.

"Hi." He answered, feeling breathless as his greeting brought her fully around, "This isn't the best place to sleep Hitomi; you should go to bed."

After a moment she agreed and started levering herself out of the chair. She lost her motivation halfway and fell back tiredly with a sigh. Now Van was really worried. He grabbed hold of her by her arms and pulled her to her feet, much to her protests. The skin contact gave him a blast of information about her current emotional state. She was very depressed and lonely, missing Van like a physical ache that wouldn't go away.

Normally he would have simply known - as opposed to being blasted with it - what was going on with her at the contact, but he had been blocking the Bond (as much as that's actually possible). The result was that the doors keeping his awareness of her at bay slammed open and overwhelmed both of them.

Van pulled Hitomi into a heated kiss that she reciprocated at first before pulling away and reminding him - and herself - that she's in a relationship with Ozuru.

"You don't belong with him!" Van finally burst out, frustrated, hurt, lonely and desperate.

She gave him an agonized look before yanking herself out of his grasp and running away, leaving him to stand alone in the hallway. A vase on a table broke.

* * *

Ozuru had seen the entire thing play out. Hitomi hadn't returned to the Kanzaki rooms and everyone had gone out looking for her.

_Where's Animire?_ Ozuru wondered.

The man was nowhere in sight and that had Ozuru worried. He went after Hitomi, running right past Van.

* * *

Ainmire panted tiredly. He and Fiona had just barely gotten all of the assassins. One had been left alive for the authorities to question and the rest were killed. Now, he and his sister needed to get back to Hitomi and Suzu respectively. Hopefully, no one had noticed their absence too much.

* * *

Hitomi was sitting alone with Ozuru. She couldn't decide what to tell him; he had told her what he had seen and now she felt even more guilty about it. How could he ever trust her again?

"You must hate me." She finally said.

"No." Ozuru answered, "I really don't have it in me to feel that way about you... Look, Hitomi you pulled away and left. That tells me right there that I can trust you." He reached over and made her look at him, "I will never hate you. But I don't trust Van. I... I know that it's selfish, but I want you to avoid him."

Hitomi told him about the negotiations Van was currently involved in and Ozuru revised it to not being alone with Van. Hitomi agreed to it, deciding that it was fair when he explained that, as a man himself, he knew that Van was very likely to try and make another move on her.

Hitomi prayed - to whom she didn't know - that she wouldn't, in the end, just hurt Ozuru.

* * *

**A/N:** Well, there was at least a little Van/Hitomi going on in this chapter. Please Review!


	34. Youth

**A/N:**

Missing White Wings 15 - I love getting your reviews! They always make my day! Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you! Here's the update and I hope you like this one just as much as the others!

* * *

It was the morning after Hitomi's encounter with Van in the hallway as she stepped into the negotiating room, completely exhausted from getting no sleep the night before. She stopped dead when she saw Van leaning against the far wall with his eyes closed. There was no one else in the room except for the two of them. When he didn't hear the door close he opened his eyes and straightened up when he spotted Hitomi. Van hadn't been sure if she'd answer his call. Sensing her surprise at his presence he realized that Hitomi had not been consciously aware that he was calling her at all.

The tense silence stretched until it was about to snap before Van said, "I'm sorry about my behavior last night."

Hitomi accepted the apology and fled the room like a frightened doe. She never saw the pain on his face because she didn't dare see it.

* * *

During the negotiations the Earth government laying claim to the Dragon Clan's lands decided to be obstinate and try to keep them. Van argued that they had no right to them; the government argued that no one had been occupying the area and, as a result, they had land-claiming rights. Millerna supported Van's claim to the lands, while others - particularly those who were afraid of the Dragon Clan - supported the Earth government. Hitomi played referee and translator.

The arguments went on well into the night until Ainmire stepped in and told them to continue in the morning; Hitomi needed to sleep and arguing about the lands while they were all tired was just going to make things worse. He and Allen then carried her, chair and all, out of the room. Allen then took the chair back in and returned to Millerna's side while Ainmire and Ozuru walked Hitomi back to the Kanzaki rooms.

The last thing that she remembered hearing from the room before the doors closed was a combination of grumbling and laughter.

When Hitomi finally fell asleep halfway through her meal with Ozuru Ainmire shooed her boyfriend out, who was too tired to keep eating, to his own room. Ozuru left, so out of it with exhaustion that he didn't think to stay and make certain that Ainmire didn't try anything funny. Hitomi's father picked her up out of the chair (she stirred for a moment, but a murmured reassurance settled her again) and took her to her bedroom where he tucked her in.

Ainmire couldn't help but remember all the times he'd done the exact same thing when she was little. He leaned over and gently kissed her forehead.

"Goodnight Baby Girl." He said quietly, smiling when she mumbled a barely understandable reply, calling him 'papa'.

Then he left and went to stand guard until Fiona's turn; it'd only be a halfhour wait.

* * *

Mamoru woke up near one in the morning to go pee and made his way to his bedroom door. When he heard voices murmuring in the mainroom he stopped and listened. The deeper of the two voices stopped mid-sentence and asked, just loudly enough for Mamoru to hear, "Is there something I can help you with Mamoru-san?"

Caught, Mamoru opened the door. For reasons that the young man had never been able to quite pin down, he had always found the way Ainmire addressed him to be strange. Now, as they stared at each other from across the dark room, he realized why; Ainmire reminded him of his father, Takehiko, who never used honorifics with his wife, or either of his children. As a result, when Ainmire used the honorifics it felt very... Off. Like it was Takehiko using them.

Mamoru had a sudden epiphiny; when he was twelve years old and discovered that he could do things other kids couldn't his father had told him that he (Takehiko) wasn't Human. His father had never said **what** he was, but he had said that he could make himself look like whatever and whoever he wanted. Mamoru had seen evidence all throughout his life that his father had been telling the truth. Those moments had kept Mamoru from feeling like he was insane because he was so different, hence his habit of staring fixedly at his father.

It had been obvious to Mamoru from the start that Ainmire and Fiona weren't Human. He now wondered if they were from his father's mysteriously absent family, so he asked them. The question surprised both of them. Finally, it was Fiona who answered.

"Takehiko is my brother. So is Ainmire."

"... I thought so. By the way, no one in my family uses honorifics when addressing each other - as far as I can remember - so stop using them when addressing me." Mamoru's expression turned slightly annoyed, "You guys remind me so much of my father, when he's not acting Human, that it's weird when you do use them."

Fiona and Ainmire were both pleased by this turn of events. Satisfied, Mamoru ran to the bathroom before he peed himself and forgot to ask what they had been talking about. It didn't matter though; they had only been exchanging the usual information as they switched out.

* * *

Ainmire closed the door in the face of yet another politician (that had been whining like a petulant child) who wanted Hitomi to translate. She was currently having lunch (breakfast) with her family, Taro, Ozuru, Millerna and Allen. They were all grateful for the reprieve from the politics.

Mamoru had since informed everyone about Fiona and Ainmire's relation to Takehiko, so the honorifics had been dropped with the other family members. Takehiko had feigned surprise that he had 'forgotten' to tell them.

Ainmire had been regaling them with embarrassing misadventures from Takehiko's childhood (which had been giving everyone stitches from laughing so hard) when the first knock on the door had come. Since then there had been twelve and Ainmire was beginning to suspect that they had all been reduced back to infancy. He kept having to remind himself that all the politicians who actually knew how to act like adults were back in their home countries trying to keep things under control. He also reminded himself that he had already sent off letters to each of the governments in question to send representatives that actually know how to behave like adults. Because of his precognitive abilities he knew that the current over-grown children would be replaced by the end of the day with sincere apologies for their behavior.

It was the only thing that kept him from punching them in the face.

When Ainmire took up his guard position again and told them that there were no extra ears listening Ozuru finally asked Hitomi what Taro had suggested he ask weeks ago.

"Hitomi... What is your history with Van?"

That had everyone's attention riveted on her. Ozuru immediately felt guilty for inadvertently cornering her and apologized for doing so, telling her that she didn't actually have to answer if she didn't want to.

"No." She said, "It's about time that I did."

Taking a deep breath, she began telling them everything, starting with her vision of Van at the train station when she was five years old. As Ozuru listened he finally came to terms with the fact that Hitomi just wasn't meant for him and never had been. He knew that she would never be happy with anyone but Van. He wondered why she had ever gone out with him. Sympathy, maybe? Or just sheer loneliness? Did she think that it would be easier for her to relate to him because they had both lost the love of their lives? It didn't matter, he decided. One way or another this was going to be their last day as a couple.

Everyone sensed the shift, but no one said anything.

* * *

That evening Ozuru broke up with her gently and with grace. When she asked him why he told her that he knew that he would never be able to compete with Van, or make her happy. That he knew Hitomi still couldn't relate to him, despite the increased communication. He wanted her to be happy and she never will be with him. When he gave her one last kiss on the forehead she had a brief vision of him getting married to woman and knew that they were going to be very happy together.

Hitomi was glad for him and said, "You'll find someone who actually deserves you."

He just gave her a pained smile and walked away. It was the last time that she ever saw Ozuru.

* * *

**A/N:** Well, I imagine that we all knew this was coming... I felt so sorry for Ozuru (that and I just don't believe in the whole 'nice guy always comes in last' crap) so I gave him a 'happily ever-after' future. Personally, I prefer Nice Guys to jerks (provided that the Nice Guy has a backbone). A gentleman is always much nicer to interact with. That all aside... Please, please do not forget to review!


	35. Consequences

**A/N:** Not including the Author's Notes this chapter is less than twelve hundred words long. I can't believe that I managed to pack as much as I did into it... Hope you guys enjoy!

* * *

Einion paced at twilight on a rooftop, agitated and frustrated. His wife had a week to live - at most - and he had, thus far, failed to keep his promise to her of vengence. There had been no opportunities, despite his patience, which had never come easily to him.

"So I'll just have to make an opportunity." He muttered to himself.

"Pardon?" Ruadhan asked with a frown from behind him.

Einion almost tried to cover for himself out of reflex, but then decided to take the powerhouse out at the start. He struck quickly with as much power as he could summon up. The building and the surrounding five blocks were ripped apart with no Human survivors.

* * *

Ruadhan gave a start, surprising Art, Aifric and Gwenda. His doppleganger - which had been watching Enion - had just been blind-sided. He told Art what had happened. Horrified that he would go so far as to kill all the people in the building to try and take out Ruadhan Art rushed to get to Japan.

* * *

The shockwave slammed into the Gaea-Earth embassy and wrecked a good chunk of the historic building, killing a lot of people and knocking the rest of the Humans unconscious. Allen and Millerna were having lunch with Hitomi and her family at the time. It saved their lives.

Ainmire, Fiona, Takehiko and Taro were barely able to shield them. The former three were able to create a barrier of power to shield Allen, Millerna, Hitomi and Suzu, but Mamoru had been retrieving something from across the room. The three tried to extend the shield to encompass him and knew that they wouldn't make it. Taro didn't even think twice about it when he used his power to get to Mamoru, grab him and put his own body between the younger man and the blast.

Then their section of the building collapsed.

* * *

Van sensed the blast wave coming and stood up from his chair, getting between the Humans and the blast. He was no good at shielding, so he used a counter blast of power instead. It wrecked the room, but he and the Humans were still alive.

He rushed to the nearest window and climbed two stories up to the roof. What he saw reminded him of the destruction his brother had caused after he went mad.

Van opened himself to his Bond with Hitomi to find her. She was frightened, but no pain was registering. Taking his shirt off (which he carelessly dropped) Van pushed his wings out of his back and launched himself off of the roof.

* * *

Ruadhan (the doppleganger) pushed the rubble aside and jumped free of the wreckage. He found himself in a small crater and realized that the damage was far worse than he had thought and reported to Art.

"That **bastard**!" Ruadhan snarled, letting his true form show; burgundy skin, lid-to-lid black eyes, long shark's teeth, claws, a tail tipped in black fire and leathery wings.

With his pitch-black hair and roar of fury he looked like Art's demonic counterpart. His power rippled out and he encompassed the the area of destruction in a bubble of slowed time, hoping that it would be enough for Art to arrive before anymore innocents were killed. He'd later see about bending time to grab as many Humans as possible before the moment when they died. Ruadhan had no idea how many, if any that he'd be able to grab.

* * *

Art emerged from the hotel mirror and rushed out of the bathroom and straight to the sliding glass door, which he blasted into shards. The room was on the top floor for exactly what he did next. Art took his true form of glowing white skin, copper-colored irises going lid-to-lid in to-big-to-be-Human eyes, luminous red-blond hair, metallic nails, fractal-fire wings and a tail with feathers on the end. He had also become ten feet tall (his clothing had adjusted with his height).

In the days to come he was going to be plastered all over the news.

He took to the air, half breaking the balcony in the process.

* * *

Just as Einion reached the embassy he heard Ruadhan's roar and stopped in his headlong run to look back. What he (and Van, who had just launched himself off of the embassy roof) saw was what looked like a prince of demons and an angel rushing towards them. Neither Einion, nor Van speculated on the sight and simply picked up their pace.

Einion smiled when he spotted his supporters heading to intercept the two. When they did it would be explosive.

Van and Einion reached Hitomi at the same time that Mamoru came around in a daze, sensing the danger to his elder sister. He shoved the barely-alive Taro as far of off himself as he could and reached for his gun. At the same time Allen drew his sword, Ainmire called his axe - the same one that had injured Enfys - and Fiona summoned her twin swords while Van wished that he had a weapon (he'd had to give it up at the embassy gates). Takehiko stayed near the women in case Einion got past.

This all happened in the five seconds before Einion stabbed Van in the gut. Hitomi called to him, scared. Van retaliated with a blast that sent Einion flying several yards, only for him to land on his feet. Mamoru shot him in the kneecap ("STAY THE F^^^ AWAY FROM MY SISTER!"). Ainmire sensed his father about to appear and made his family (including his nephew, Allen), Van and Millerna fall unconscious. Einion's knee was only one-quarter healed when Art was upon him a few seconds after that and was unable to jump out of the way in time. He was dead seconds later, Enfys dying with him.

From the blast to that moment only a little under two minutes had passed.

Einion's supporters showed up then and everyone was suddenly fighting them, trying to keep them from killing Hitomi and the others. The danger woke Van and Allen very quickly. Art bent light to make himself hard for them to focus on (so that he wouldn't kill them of fright). The two proved to be invaluable in the battle and both discovered that the part of them that wasn't Human had come to the fore when they weren't paying attention over the years.

It took half an hour to kill all of Einion's supporters.

A Japanese politician saw the entire thing. They decided that it was in Japan's best interest to not only make nice with the Dragon Clan, but to also keep them from becoming neighbors and allies with any potential enemies of their country.

* * *

When he returned home Art couldn't face Aifric and slept on the couch by his own choice. She found that the bed felt cold and empty without him sleeping in it next to her.

* * *

The next day Art avoided Aifric, using the excuse that he had to take care of the damages to the hotel and remove the tech from the mirror.

**A/N:** I sincerely hope that this chapter wasn't confusing to read. Please review and tell me what you guys think!


	36. Relationships

**A/N:** This sucker is almost done!

Missing White Wings 15 - Thank-you so much for your review! And yeah, Ozuru had to be the one to do it, or he would never trust another woman with his hear and then he wouldn't get his 'happily ever after'.

* * *

The next day the media was in complete chaos, trying to cover everything; the mysterious explosion, the sightings of Art flying through the sky and then there was the astonishing return of nearly everyone that had been caught in the explosion in the first place. Over the course of a week the remaining missing people returned. None of the survivors had any explanation for what had happened to them, or how they were not dead.

* * *

After pulling off grabbing so many people all at once and sending them forward in time Ruadhan had such bad headache that he felt nauseous for several days, throwing up often. Gwenda nursed him throughout it and eventually made him promise not to stalk her ever again; if she's in trouble than he is to tell her, rather than skulk in the shadows, watching her.

* * *

Van was standing on high ground, looking at a map with a government woman, both of them holding one edge of it. The Japanese government had, just the other day, offered him and his people a large chunk of land (they had space to spare since the merging of Earth and Gaea). The soil was good, the mountains were ideal, the climate was proving to be pleasant (though it was fall, so they were waiting to see how the winter would be) and - best of all - Hitomi was standing between him and the woman, translating. Van had his arm wrapped around her as she subconsciously tried to maintain a certain minimum body space between herself and the other woman.

He had found out just a couple of days ago about her break-up with Ozuru. Hitomi hadn't been sure what to do since then, so Van was taking the lead. Thankfully, linguists had been able to work out most of the Gaean languages well enough that Hitomi wasn't needed for every meeting anymore; it turned out that Earth's own languages were fairly similar to many of Gaea's. Now that the boarders were mostly worked out (the childish representatives had been replaced with some actually effective ones) everyone was trying to figure out what to call their new world. 'Rhea' and 'Terra' were some tentative options.

"Hey, Van..." Hitomi said, her eyes on the map.

He turned his attention to her.

"Isn't that..." She pointed to a spot on the map, drawing his attention reluctantly back to it, "Where Adom is?"

He wasn't entirely sure, but he thought that she might be right. Hitomi spoke to the woman beside her and twenty minutes later it was confirmed. A week after that and the area the government had been offering was expanded to include all of the Beast People villages, which were in very convenient locations. Van suspected that Hitomi's power was at play in that. Either way, it didn't matter. What Van really wanted an answer to was why the Japanese government was being so generous. To that end he asked them.

Their answer was that after seeing his powers they would prefer to keep him and his people close and as friends of Japan. They didn't want him and his people to end up being neighbors with a world superpower that may, or may not, like Japan. The job of the Japanese government is to ensure the safety of the country both in the short and long run. Van found this to be both understandable and an acceptable reason for their previously odd-seeming generosity.

Once satisfied with that answer he and the Japanese government worked out the details of building the new Draconian kingdom and moving his people there. Taro eventually got him to the point of being understandable in Japanese. By then Van and Hitomi's relationship was progressing smoothly and everyone was speculating about when they would be expecting their first child.

Yukari and Amano were just glad to see her finally, truly happy.

* * *

Aifric stared at her husband's back as he stayed stoically focused on his paperwork. He had been like that ever since the battle at the embassy. This was actually a normal response he had after any battle; he would avoid her and try to keep his distance when he couldn't. She always had to coax him back into her arms. Art had once confessed that after any battle he felt like touching Aifric was some kind of sin. She had taken him to task for it, which had actually made him smile at the time.

It seemed that she was likely going to have to take him to task again.

"Art..." She said softly, "Why won't you look at me?"

"...I cannot. Not after... After killing so many of our friends."

"Friends...?" Aifric murmured, confused, then understanding dawned and she closed the gap between them.

She rested her hand on her husband's broad back, smoothing it up to his neck. He shivered and she smiled.

"Lover... They ceased being my friends the moment I found out that they thought it was alright to let Einion torture our grandchild. Even if Hitomi had been someone else's granddaughter I would have reacted the same way. Even when torture was the normal course of things I found it to be barbaric and horrible. I would never count among my friends any who thought that it was acceptable to ever do to anyone."

"Then... You do not hate me?" He asked in a small voice.

Aifric had never felt so horrified in her life. She quickly came around to kneel beside him. Taking his face in her hands she turned his head towards her. When he finally looked at her he looked so very lost and bereft.

"Don't you **ever** think something like that again. I may get mad at you from time to time, but I could never and would never hate you. How could I? You're my sun around which I orbit."

He smiled, so relieved that he started crying. Aifric was just glad that there were no arms on the chair; it allowed her to pull him off of it to sit on the floor with her where she held him close. He tried to tell her how much she meant to him, but it all came out garbled and unintelligible through the crying.

She understood him anyway.

* * *

**A/N:** So, like I said, only two chapter left to this. Then there's the sequel. Pretty please review!


	37. Wonderful Misery

**A/N:** Alrighty then! Here's the epologue (did I spell that right?)! Don't worry jossi-31, I haven't forgotten the story of the first Pairbond; that's the next chapter.

* * *

Hitomi was lounging miserably on a couch. She was tired, nauseous, getting hot flashes, had a rash on her thighs, had gained fifty pounds, her sexual appetite was insatiable (Van had no problem with this) and she felt achy - especially across her hips ever since the baby had decided to lay length wise. The doctors insisted that this would push her otherwise slim hips out, thereby making it easier for her to give birth. She didn't doubt them; Hitomi could feel her hips being forced wider - it **hurt**.

"Don't worry," Yukari soothed from where she sat in a rocking chair breast feeding, "The rash is getting better and should be gone in another day or two."

Hitomi just groaned and shifted onto her side. Yukari tried - and failed - not to grin. Laying on her side proved less comfortable than laying on her back, so Hitomi returned to her previous position. Yukari and Amano had since been found to be not entirely Human. It turned out that Amano was Hitomi's cousin through one of her father's siblings (which was why he and Allen looked nearly identical). Because of that both of them were living in the new kingdom that Hitomi was helping Van to build... Well, normally helping. At the moment she was just feeling miserable.

Shortly after the two had permanently moved they had asked Hitomi to be their baby's godmother. They hadn't been sure if Van would be okay with being the godfather, so they hadn't asked at first. It had eventually come up in conversation and the couple had been pleased to find out that Van not only had no problem with being the child's godfather he also considered it an honor. As it turned out being a godparent or having godparents was a big deal among the Dragon Clan. It put him in even better standing with his people.

Thankfully, thus far, the entire Dragon Clan had found that they had no problem with following Van. He was still awkward at dealing with normal Humans, but among his own kind he had a natural charisma that was serving him well. It even seemed to work with the Draconians that had been raised on Earth, whom Hitomi's grandmother, Yui, was training in their abilities. She was even training Yukari and Amano, who were both taking well to it.

"So how are the wedding plans coming along?" Yukari asked after a stretch of silence.

Hitomi smiled, feeling like a giddy teenager again. Yukari saw the expression and smiled, knowing what it was like to feel that.

"With all of the building and other stuff going on it's going to be another month."

"Ah~, I see."

Yukari's smile widened a bit. She had never been so happy for her friend, though she had a feeling that when Hitomi actually got married she'd be feeling even happier for her.

* * *

Draconian weddings turned out to be fairly simple affairs for Pairbonds that only blood relations attended. An exception was made since Hitomi and Van were the godparents of Yukari's child. Ainmire and Fiona were both in attendance as well, for which Hitomi was glad; she had become surprisingly fond of the two. Allen stood near their shared cousin, Amano, and both of them smiled - along with the new mother - the entire time.

They held hands as a thin, red rope was wound around Van's forearm and then Hitomi's. The oracle - Yui - then blessed them both individually and as a couple... And that was the entirety of the ceremony, other than the fact that they had to keep holding hands (with the red rope wrapped around their forearms) until the wedding night. There was a more involved version for a couple that was getting married, but weren't a Pairbond; the Elders kept trying to get Yukari and Amano to go through it, but both insisted that they were already married. Hitomi's two friends found the Elders' insistence mildly amusing, while the Elders themselves just found it frustrating.

* * *

It was years later, when Van and Hitomi were picking out a name for their third child, that he realized he'd had a vision of doing exactly what he was currently doing shortly after he and Hitomi had accidentally merged Earth and Gaea. He couldn't help but smile.

* * *

**A/N:** So, any comments before the last chapter? Please, please review!


	38. The First Pairbond

**A/N:** Jossi-31 this is for you! Sorry it came out so short...

Missing White Wings 15 - I'm glad that you liked the last chapter so much! Hope you enjoy this!

* * *

_Once, a long time ago, when the Dragon Clan was still young, something amazing happened; the first Pairbond formed. No one, least of all them, understood what was happening and - fearful - the people tried to keep them apart. But still, they were drawn to each other over and over again, their hearts, yearning, their souls aching as their spirits wept for one another._

_One day when the woman - Una - was sneaking off to see her Pairbond she was caught. She struggled against them and they struggled back, their powers clashing. Sensing Una's distress her Pairbond - Aiden - came to help her. Rather than fighting both of them she was released and the Pair left. The next day they stood before the entire Dragon Clan and said, "We are two halves a whole, a pair bonded together. All our lives we have waited for one another, wishing, hoping and pleading for an end to our loneliness. Our fear - and your fear - has tried to drive us apart... But now we have faced our fears and realized that there was never any reason to be afraid; we were born to be together. We will remain together in this life, in the next and in every incarnation we take because we complete each other and could never want another. We will never be parted again."_

_And so they weren't for the rest of their live. Always where there was one the other could be found by simply calling their name. Then, one day, years later, one of their sons became the first king of the Dragon Clan, but that's another story, for another time._

* * *

"Aww - just one more Daddy!" Nual begged Van.

"No." His father replied firmly, "I've already told you five stories and let you stay up later than your siblings. It's time for bed."

The green-eyed and dark-haired child pouted, but knew better than to argue. Van got up from where he was sitting on the side of his son's bed and tucked him in, placing a kiss on his forehead. As he left the room he glanced back at his eldest child and smiled. Van turned off the lights and closed the door down to a crack.

Half an hour later and he had to discipline his son because he had gotten out of bed to play with his toys.

* * *

**A/N:** I was honestly expecting this to be longer when I started writing... Then again, Van is telling the five-year-old-safe version of this story... And no, I have no idea what the un-sanitized version is like.


	39. University

**A/N:** Here's the first chapter of the sequel to connections! I'm posting it here so that I can tell you guys the name of the sequel; it's called 'Ripple Effect'. Enjoy.

* * *

Fifty years ago Yukari died in an 'accident' caused by xenophobic Humans. Amano followed her to the next life shortly thereafter of a broken heart. Their children - grown by then - grew angry at the people who had done this to their family. One of them took that anger and directed it towards making a positive change. The others followed.

Fourteen years ago the 'accidents' stopped happening to people who weren't - or were not entirely - Human. The forward progress continued. Since the time that Earth and Gaea had merged into one world (which was now called Terra) one-hundred years had past. In that time the Dragon Clan has grown stronger than it has ever been.

International politics were taken care of by Hitomi, while Van took care of in-country affairs for the most part. Because of the way Hitomi did her politics the Dragon Clan's allies grew in strength with them, rather than being dwarfed or overshadowed. This made them a very popular country to be allied with and meant that Hitomi and Van had to pick their allies very carefully. It was a tiring job. As such Nual wasn't overly surprised to find his mother asleep at her desk when he came to tell her that Sakura (Yukari's great granddaughter) had just been accepted into the university she had been hoping for. The young woman had used a false name to make certain that if she got in it would be because of her own merit and not because of her family name. Things would be cleared up with the appropriate people before she started.

To say that Sakura was excited was something of an understatement. Even so, he knew that she would understand if he waited to tell his mother the good news.

_Oh well,_ Nual thought, giving his mother a bemused and sympathetic smile,_ I guess it will just have to wait._

His youngest sibling - twelve year old Aiden - peeked in around him and asked quietly, "Did mom fall asleep again?"

"Yup, looks that way."

A pureblooded Draconian woman could get pregnant about once every ten to twelve years. Because Hitomi was a mix of River Clan, Dragon Clan and Human her breeding cycle was once every fifteen years when she would have three children over the course of a decade. Nual had a lot of siblings.

"Go let Dad know." Nual instructed.

Aiden went from perfectly still to taking off like an arrow. He was like that all the time. Perfectly still one moment and then nothing but rapid motion the next. Most people found him difficult to deal with because of it.

Nual sat down on the couch to wait for his father.

* * *

_Hitomi watched from a distance as life on Terra died. In spread like a ripple across water, leaving behind nothing but rock, sand and barren dirt. Even the water turned putrid, the plants and animals dying almost instantly._

_She moved closer, unerringly aiming for the empicenter. It took only took the length of a thought to arrive. At the center was a figure and when she approached to get a better look-_

* * *

Hitomi woke up and looked around. She was in her bedroom. Alone.

_Another one..._ She thought, then decided that she needed to talk to Van.

He was the only one who knew about the dream-visions she had been having for the last month and talking to him helped. He didn't have visions like her, but he did occasionally see the future, so he understood her when she talked about them. Van's own powers had proven to be just as strong as her's, if more subtle and varied. Most of the time. A few decades back another country had tried to drop a bomb on a city that he and Hitomi had been in at the time for diplomatic reasons. He had stopped them mid air, shut them off and put them down in a nearby field. The local government - after determining that they were never going to work again - had then packaged them up and shipped them back to their home country.

Said country then tried to do the same thing again, but from the coast and straight into the Dragon Kingdom. Van, again, stopped them. That time, however, he set the missiles down on the decks of the ships, completely disarmed. They never tried it again. The Japanese government had never been quite so happy as they were then to be on very friendly terms with Van and Hitomi. The general population had no idea that the incident had ever even taken place.

* * *

A little later that day Hitomi talked with Van about her latest vision. Both of them were worried.

* * *

**A/N:** So what did you guys think? Do you like it? Sorry for the info dump.


End file.
